regretvsresetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,617
“regret” frequency rank
#30,341
“reset” frequency rank
37958
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regret reset
Definition Chagrin que cause la perte, la mort d’une personne. Réinitialisation d’un système.

Where the eye mixes regret and reset

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

6 ch
regret
5 ch
reset

Look-alike desk: regret vs reset

A purely visual mix-up. regret (\ʁə.ɡʁɛ\) and reset (\ʁe.zɛt\) 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 37958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regret is recorded at frequency rank #7,617, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁɛ\. reset is at rank #30,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.zɛt\.

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 37958, this pair ranks #258,742 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regret vs reset

Shared letters: ert. Private to "regret": g. Private to "reset": s.

"regret" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "reset" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regretergret · regert · reggret · regrett · regrret · regrte · rerget · rgeret
  • reseterset · reest · resett · resset · rreset · rseet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regret" for "reset" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ɡʁɛ\ versus \ʁe.zɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "regret" vs "reset" - which ranks higher?
"regret" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,617 in our French list, against #30,341 for "reset". 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 "regret" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reset" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,742 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regret" and "reset" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relit vs reset". 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 #258,742 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