Which to use
“reculer” is a verb and “régule” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,452
- “reculer” frequency rank
- #34,734
- “régule” frequency rank
- 43186
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reculer | régule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tirer ou pousser un objet en arrière. | Nom donné à différents alliages d’antimoine, d’étain ou de plomb. |
Where the eye mixes reculer and régule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reculer runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against régule's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between reculer and régule
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reculer is \ʁə.ky.le\ while régule is \ʁe.ɡyl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reculer is recorded at frequency rank #8,452, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\. régule is at rank #34,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ɡyl\.
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 43186, this pair ranks #220,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reculer vs régule
Shared letters: elru. Private to "reculer": c. Private to "régule": gé.
"reculer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "régule" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- reculer ← erculer · rceuler · recculer · recluer · recuelr · reculerr · reculler · reculre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reculer" and "régule" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "reculer" or "régule"?
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 "reculer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "régule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reculer" and "régule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régule vs remué". 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 #220,008 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.