régalervsrelaxerConfusable pair

Which to use

“régaler” and “relaxer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,017
“régaler” frequency rank
#25,107
“relaxer” frequency rank
49124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régaler relaxer
Definition Donner un régal, offrir un plaisir de table. Remettre en liberté, en parlant d’un prisonnier.

Where the eye mixes régaler and relaxer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. régaler and relaxer 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
relaxer

Visual trap between régaler and relaxer

A purely visual mix-up. régaler (\ʁe.ɡa.le\) and relaxer (\ʁə.lak.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49124, 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\. relaxer is at rank #25,107, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.lak.se\.

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 49124, this pair ranks #173,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of régaler vs relaxer

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "régaler": gé. Private to "relaxer": x.

"régaler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "relaxer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relaxer ← erlaxer · realxer · relaexr · relaxerr · relaxre · relaxxer · rellaxer · relxaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régaler" and "relaxer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɡa.le\ versus \ʁə.lak.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régaler" vs "relaxer" - which ranks higher?
"régaler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,017 in our French list, against #25,107 for "relaxer". 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 "régaler" and "relaxer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "régaler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "relaxer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régaler" and "relaxer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relatés vs relaxer". 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 #173,291 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