regrettervsregretteraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,881
“regretter” frequency rank
#31,682
“regrettera” frequency rank
38563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regretter regrettera
Definition Avoir du chagrin de l’absence, de la perte, de la mort de quelqu’un. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de regretter.

Where the eye mixes regretter and regrettera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. regretter runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against regrettera's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
regretter
10 ch
regrettera

Visual trap between regretter and regrettera

A purely visual mix-up. regretter (\ʁə.ɡʁe.te\) and regrettera (\ʁə.ɡʁɛ.tə.ʁa\) 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 extra letter(s) - “regretter” sits inside “regrettera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regretter is recorded at frequency rank #6,881, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁe.te\. regrettera is at rank #31,682, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ɡʁɛ.tə.ʁa\.

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 38563, this pair ranks #254,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regretter vs regrettera

Shared letters: egrt. Private to "regretter": -. Private to "regrettera": a.

"regretter" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "regrettera" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regretter ← ergretter · regertter · reggretter · regreter · regretetr · regretterr · regrettre · regrretter
  • regrettera ← ergrettera · regerttera · reggrettera · regretera · regretetra · regrettear · regretterra · regrettrea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regretter" for "regrettera" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ɡʁe.te\ versus \ʁə.ɡʁɛ.tə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "regretter" or "regrettera"?
"regretter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,881 in our French list, against #31,682 for "regrettera". 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 "regretter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regrettera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regretter" and "regrettera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regrettera vs regretterez". 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 #254,416 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