regrettevsregrettentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,218
“regrette” frequency rank
#24,739
“regrettent” frequency rank
27957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regrette regrettent
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de regretter. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de regretter.

Same sound, different letters: regrette vs regrettent

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. regrette runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against regrettent's 10 (CVCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
regrette
10 ch
regrettent

Homophone desk: regrette vs regrettent

This is the hard kind. regrette and regrettent are pronounced identically (\ʁə.ɡʁɛt\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “regrette” sits inside “regrettent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regrette is recorded at frequency rank #3,218, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁɛt\. regrettent is at rank #24,739, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁɛt\.

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 27957, this pair ranks #325,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regrette vs regrettent

Shared letters: egrt. Private to "regrette": -. Private to "regrettent": n.

"regrette" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "regrettent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regrette ← ergrette · regertte · reggrette · regrete · regretet · regrrette · regrtete · rergette
  • regrettent ← ergrettent · regerttent · reggrettent · regretent · regretetnt · regrettennt · regrettentt · regrettetn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regrette" for "regrettent" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁə.ɡʁɛt\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "regrette" vs "regrettent" - which ranks higher?
"regrette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,218 in our French list, against #24,739 for "regrettent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "regrette" / "regrettent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "regrette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regrettent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regrette" and "regrettent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regrettent vs regrettez". 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 #325,746 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