regainvsregisConfusable pair

Quick tell: regain is a noun, regis is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“regain” is a noun and “regis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,575
“regain” frequency rank
#34,282
“regis” frequency rank
52857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regain regis
Definition Herbe qui repousse dans les prés après qu’ils ont été fauchés. Passé du verbe regi.

Where the eye mixes regain and regis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. regain runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against regis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
regain
5 ch
regis

Visual trap between regain and regis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: regain is \ʁə.ɡɛ̃\ while regis is \ˈre.ɡis\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52857, 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\. regis is at rank #34,282, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈre.ɡis\.

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 52857, this pair ranks #144,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regain vs regis

Shared letters: egir. Private to "regain": an. Private to "regis": s.

"regain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "regis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regain ← ergain · reagin · regainn · regani · reggain · rgeain · rregain
  • regis ← ergis · reggis · regiss · regsi · reigs · rgeis · rregis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regain" for "regis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "regain" is a noun and "regis" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "regain" or "regis" show up more?
"regain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,575 in our French list, against #34,282 for "regis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regain" and "regis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regis vs relit". 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 #144,778 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