refoulervsrégulerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,152
“refouler” frequency rank
#17,554
“réguler” frequency rank
49706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refouler réguler
Definition Fouler (presser) de nouveau. Ajuster de manière définitive ou permanente.

Where the eye mixes refouler and réguler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

8 ch
refouler
7 ch
réguler

Why the eye confuses refouler with réguler

A purely visual mix-up. refouler (\ʁə.fu.le\) and réguler (\ʁe.ɡy.le\) 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 49706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refouler is recorded at frequency rank #32,152, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fu.le\. réguler is at rank #17,554, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɡy.le\.

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 49706, this pair ranks #168,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refouler vs réguler

Shared letters: elru. Private to "refouler": fo. Private to "réguler": .

"refouler" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "réguler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refoulererfouler · reffouler · refoluer · refouelr · refoulerr · refouller · refoulre · refuoler

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "refouler" and "réguler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fu.le\ versus \ʁe.ɡy.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "refouler" vs "réguler" - which ranks higher?
"réguler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,554 in our French list, against #32,152 for "refouler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "refouler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réguler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #168,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refouler" and "réguler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refoulée vs refouler". 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 #168,462 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