reculantvsréglantTell them apart

Which to use

“reculant” and “réglant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,956
“reculant” frequency rank
#42,595
“réglant” frequency rank
83551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reculant réglant
Definition Participe présent du verbe reculer. Participe présent de régler.

Where the eye mixes reculant and réglant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reculant runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against réglant's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
reculant
7 ch
réglant

Visual trap between reculant and réglant

A purely visual mix-up. reculant (\ʁə.ky.lɑ̃\) and réglant (\ʁe.ɡlɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reculant is recorded at frequency rank #40,956, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ky.lɑ̃\. réglant is at rank #42,595, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɡlɑ̃\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 83551, this pair ranks #14,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reculant vs réglant

Shared letters: alnrt. Private to "reculant": ceu. Private to "réglant": .

"reculant" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "réglant" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reculanterculant · rceulant · recculant · recluant · recualnt · reculannt · reculantt · reculatn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reculant" and "réglant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ky.lɑ̃\ versus \ʁe.ɡlɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "reculant" or "réglant" show up more?
"reculant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,956 in our French list, against #42,595 for "réglant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reculant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réglant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reculant" and "réglant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs reculant". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #14,605 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list