régnaitvsrègnentTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,673
“régnait” frequency rank
#25,484
“règnent” frequency rank
45157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régnait règnent
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de régner. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de régner.

Where the eye mixes régnait and règnent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. régnait (CVCCVVC) and règnent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
régnait
7 ch
règnent

Visual trap between régnait and règnent

A purely visual mix-up. régnait (\ʁe.ɲɛ\) and règnent (\ʁɛɲ\) 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 45157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régnait is recorded at frequency rank #19,673, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɲɛ\. règnent is at rank #25,484, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛɲ\.

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 45157, this pair ranks #204,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of régnait vs règnent

Shared letters: gnrt. Private to "régnait": aié. Private to "règnent": eè.

"régnait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "règnent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régnait" and "règnent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɲɛ\ versus \ʁɛɲ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "régnait" or "règnent" show up more?
"régnait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,673 in our French list, against #25,484 for "règnent". 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 "régnait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "règnent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régnait" and "règnent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "règnent vs rement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #204,944 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