规则和规定在意义上基本一致，在中文中规则一般是做名词使用；而规定一般做动词使用如：“法律规定，，，”有时也做名词使用如：“公司有规定说，，，，”这类的使用时规则和规定是一样意思的；所以rule作名词更和规则相近。

规则：people discuss together then make a rule for something then we call this rule 规则 for example, 足球规则 比赛规则 etc 规定： 1) as a verb. 公司规定我们必须八点开始工作。 the company provides that we must start working at 8 o'clock 2) as a noun. the group or the boss or the law or police or the school etc makes some rules for all of people, then we call these rules 规定 我们必须在八点开始工作，这是公司的规定。 we must start working at 8 o'clock, this is company's rule. anyway 规则 represents how something runs. and 规定 represents something that we have to respect.

规则 is more informal. e.g. 游戏规则 game's rule 规定 is more formal. e.g. 公司规定 corporation's rule But I don't think which one is closer to 'rule'

规则and 规定 both of them carrry the same meaning. rule =规则，规章，条例,规定 For example,to follow the rules 遵训规则/规定

规则是名词 规定有时做名词用有时做动词用