régnervsrégulerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,252
“régner” frequency rank
#17,554
“réguler” frequency rank
30806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régner réguler
Definition Exercer le pouvoir souverain dans un État monarchique ; se dit des princes souverains, même quand ils ne portent pas le titre de roi. Ajuster de manière définitive ou permanente.

Where the eye mixes régner and réguler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
régner
7 ch
réguler

Visual trap between régner and réguler

A purely visual mix-up. régner (\ʁe.ɲe\) and réguler (\ʁe.ɡy.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régner is recorded at frequency rank #13,252, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɲe\. réguler is at rank #17,554, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ɡy.le\.

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 30806, this pair ranks #307,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of régner vs réguler

Shared letters: egré. Private to "régner": n. Private to "réguler": lu.

"régner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "réguler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "régner" for "réguler" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɲe\ versus \ʁe.ɡy.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régner" vs "réguler" - which ranks higher?
"régner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,252 in our French list, against #17,554 for "réguler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "régner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réguler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régner" and "réguler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régulée vs réguler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #307,873 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