réglervsresterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,595
“régler” frequency rank
#660
“rester” frequency rank
3255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régler rester
Definition Tirer avec la règle des lignes droites sur du papier, du carton, etc. Continuer d’être à un endroit ou dans un état.

Where the eye mixes régler and rester

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
régler
6 ch
rester

Why the eye confuses régler with rester

A purely visual mix-up. régler (\ʁe.ɡle\) and rester (\ʁɛs.te\) 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 3255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régler is recorded at frequency rank #2,595, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɡle\. rester is at rank #660, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.te\.

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 3255, this pair ranks #434,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of régler vs rester

Shared letters: er. Private to "régler": glé. Private to "rester": st.

"régler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "rester" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • restererster · resetr · resster · resterr · restre · restter · retser · rrester

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "régler" and "rester" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɡle\ versus \ʁɛs.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régler" vs "rester" - which ranks higher?
"rester" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #660 in our French list, against #2,595 for "régler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "régler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rester" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régler" and "rester" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rester vs resterez". 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 #434,450 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