régalevsréguléeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,558
“régale” frequency rank
#44,162
“régulée” frequency rank
64720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régale régulée
Definition Royal. Participe passé féminin singulier de réguler.

Where the eye mixes régale and régulée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. régale runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against régulée's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
régale
7 ch
régulée

Visual trap between régale and régulée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: régale is \ʁe.ɡal\ while régulée is \ʁe.ɡy.le\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64720, 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\. régulée is at rank #44,162, 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 64720, this pair ranks #75,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of régale vs régulée

Shared letters: eglré. Private to "régale": a. Private to "régulée": u.

"régale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "régulée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régale" and "régulée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "régale" is an adjective and "régulée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "régale" or "régulée" show up more?
"régale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,558 in our French list, against #44,162 for "régulée". 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 "régale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "régulée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régale" and "régulée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refoulée vs régulée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,673 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