régulevsrotuleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,734
“régule” frequency rank
#39,517
“rotule” frequency rank
74251
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régule rotule
Definition Nom donné à différents alliages d’antimoine, d’étain ou de plomb. Petit os plat, triangulaire, à angles arrondis, placé en avant du genou, à l’endroit où le fémur s’articule avec le tibia.

Where the eye mixes régule and rotule

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

6 ch
régule
6 ch
rotule

Why the eye confuses régule with rotule

A purely visual mix-up. régule (\ʁe.ɡyl\) and rotule (\ʁɔ.tyl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régule is recorded at frequency rank #34,734, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ɡyl\. rotule is at rank #39,517, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɔ.tyl\.

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 74251, this pair ranks #37,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of régule vs rotule

Shared letters: elru. Private to "régule": . Private to "rotule": ot.

"régule" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "rotule" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rotuleortule · rotlue · rottule · rotuel · rotulle · routle · rrotule · rtoule

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régule" and "rotule" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ɡyl\ versus \ʁɔ.tyl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régule" vs "rotule" - which ranks higher?
"régule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,734 in our French list, against #39,517 for "rotule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "régule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rotule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régule" and "rotule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rotule vs rouble". 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 #37,725 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