reflexvsrégléeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,320
“reflex” frequency rank
#14,354
“réglée” frequency rank
42674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reflex réglée
Definition Type d’appareil photographique caractérisé par l’utilisation d’un objectif unique servant à la fois à la prise de vue et à la visée grâce à un système de miroir mobile (ou parfois avec deux objectifs, l’un servant à la prise de vue, l’autre à la visée). Pile de feuille de carton.

Where the eye mixes reflex and réglée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
reflex
6 ch
réglée

Why the eye confuses reflex with réglée

A purely visual mix-up. reflex (\ʁe.flɛks\) and réglée (\ʁe.ɡle\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reflex is recorded at frequency rank #28,320, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.flɛks\. réglée is at rank #14,354, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ɡle\.

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 42674, this pair ranks #223,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reflex vs réglée

Shared letters: elr. Private to "reflex": fx. Private to "réglée": .

"reflex" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "réglée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reflexerflex · refelx · refflex · reflexx · refllex · reflxe · relfex · rfelex

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reflex" and "réglée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.flɛks\ versus \ʁe.ɡle\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "reflex" or "réglée" show up more?
"réglée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,354 in our French list, against #28,320 for "reflex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reflex" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réglée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reflex" and "réglée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rafler vs reflex". 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 #223,823 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