English homophones
re/ree
"re" is a preposition; "ree" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "re" arrives as a preposition, while "ree" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "re" then splits - "re" (2 letters) vs "ree" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across re, ree: er. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
re
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV
Inventory er · no private letters vs siblings
ree
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory er · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "re" when you mean: About, regarding, with reference to; especially in letters, documents, emails and case law.
- Write "ree" when you mean: Alternative form of rei (“Portuguese real”).
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (re, ree). Here's where to go from here.
- "re" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #593 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: wrote · rote. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.