régiesvsregretTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,380
“régies” frequency rank
#7,617
“regret” frequency rank
31997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régies regret
Definition Pluriel de régie. Chagrin que cause la perte, la mort d’une personne.

Where the eye mixes régies and regret

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. régies (CVCVVC) and regret (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
régies
6 ch
regret

Visual trap between régies and regret

A purely visual mix-up. régies (\ʁe.ʒi\) and regret (\ʁə.ɡʁɛ\) 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 31997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régies is recorded at frequency rank #24,380, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ʒi\. regret is at rank #7,617, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁɛ\.

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 31997, this pair ranks #300,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of régies vs regret

Shared letters: egr. Private to "régies": isé. Private to "regret": t.

"régies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "regret" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regret ← ergret · regert · reggret · regrett · regrret · regrte · rerget · rgeret

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régies" and "regret" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ʒi\ versus \ʁə.ɡʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "régies" or "regret"?
"regret" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,617 in our French list, against #24,380 for "régies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "régies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regret" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régies" and "regret" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régies vs Reis". 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 #300,234 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