régalervsrégatesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#24,017
“régaler” frequency rank
#45,850
“régates” frequency rank
69867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régaler régates
Definition Donner un régal, offrir un plaisir de table. Pluriel de régate.

Where the eye mixes régaler and régates

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

7 ch
régaler
7 ch
régates

Visual trap between régaler and régates

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: régaler is \ʁe.ɡa.le\ while régates is \ʁe.ɡat\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régaler is recorded at frequency rank #24,017, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɡa.le\. régates is at rank #45,850, 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 69867, this pair ranks #53,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of régaler vs régates

Shared letters: aegré. Private to "régaler": l. Private to "régates": st.

"régaler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "régates" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "régaler" for "régates" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "régaler" is a verb and "régates" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "régaler" or "régates"?
"régaler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,017 in our French list, against #45,850 for "régates". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "régaler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "régates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régaler" and "régates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régates vs relatés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,493 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