régalevsrégateWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: régale is a adjective, régate is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“régale” is an adjective and “régate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,558
“régale” frequency rank
#43,648
“régate” frequency rank
64206
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régale régate
Definition Royal. Course d’embarcations, de yachts qui se disputent le prix de la vitesse.

Where the eye mixes régale and régate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. régale and régate follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
régale
6 ch
régate

Why the eye confuses régale with régate

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: régale is \ʁe.ɡal\ while régate is \ʁe.ɡat\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “régale” becomes t in “régate”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régale is recorded at frequency rank #20,558, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.ɡal\. régate is at rank #43,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ɡat\.

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 64206, this pair ranks #78,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of régale vs régate

Shared letters: aegré. Private to "régale": l. Private to "régate": t.

"régale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "régate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "régale" and "régate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "régale" is an adjective and "régate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "régale" or "régate" show up more?
"régale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,558 in our French list, against #43,648 for "régate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "régale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "régate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régale" and "régate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régate vs Renata". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #78,183 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