regainvsrégionConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,575
“regain” frequency rank
#451
“région” frequency rank
19026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regain région
Definition Herbe qui repousse dans les prés après qu’ils ont été fauchés. Vaste territoire ; étendue de pays.

Where the eye mixes regain and région

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. regain and région follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
regain
6 ch
région

Why the eye confuses regain with région

A purely visual mix-up. regain (\ʁə.ɡɛ̃\) and région (\ʁe.ʒjɔ̃\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regain is recorded at frequency rank #18,575, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ɡɛ̃\. région is at rank #451, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ʒjɔ̃\.

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 19026, this pair ranks #375,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of regain vs région

Shared letters: ginr. Private to "regain": ae. Private to "région": oé.

"regain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "région" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regain ← ergain · reagin · regainn · regani · reggain · rgeain · rregain

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regain" and "région" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ɡɛ̃\ versus \ʁe.ʒjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "regain" or "région"?
"région" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #451 in our French list, against #18,575 for "regain". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "regain" and "région" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "regain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "région" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regain" and "région" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regain vs Reggio". 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 #375,397 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