Which to use
“régale” is an adjective and “rigole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,558
- “régale” frequency rank
- #7,234
- “rigole” frequency rank
- 27792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | régale | rigole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Royal. | Petit canal creusé dans la terre ou dans la pierre, pour faire couler l’eau à travers un jardin, un pré, etc. |
Where the eye mixes régale and rigole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. régale and rigole follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses régale with rigole
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: régale is \ʁe.ɡal\ while rigole is \ʁi.ɡɔl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27792, 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\. rigole is at rank #7,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁi.ɡɔl\.
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 27792, this pair ranks #326,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of régale vs rigole
Shared letters: eglr. Private to "régale": aé. Private to "rigole": io.
"régale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "rigole" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rigole ← irgole · rgiole · riggole · rigloe · rigoel · rigolle · riogle · rrigole
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "régale" and "rigole" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "régale" or "rigole" show up more?
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 "rigole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "régale" and "rigole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régale vs rénal". 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 #326,720 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.