régulationsvsrelationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,542
“régulations” frequency rank
#1,011
“relations” frequency rank
38553
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régulations relations
Definition Pluriel de régulation. Pluriel de relation.

Where the eye mixes régulations and relations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

11 ch
régulations
9 ch
relations

Visual trap between régulations and relations

A purely visual mix-up. régulations (\ʁe.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\) and relations (\ʁə.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régulations is recorded at frequency rank #37,542, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\. relations is at rank #1,011, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.la.sjɔ̃\.

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 38553, this pair ranks #254,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of régulations vs relations

Shared letters: ailnorst. Private to "régulations": gué. Private to "relations": e.

"régulations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC  ·  "relations" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relationserlations · realtions · relaitons · relatinos · relationns · relationss · relatiosn · relatoins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régulations" and "relations" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\ versus \ʁə.la.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régulations" vs "relations" - which ranks higher?
"relations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,011 in our French list, against #37,542 for "régulations". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "régulations" and "relations" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "régulations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "relations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régulations" and "relations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "régulations vs révélations". 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 #254,488 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