Which to use
“rape” is a noun and “reap” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,127
- “rape” frequency rank
- #14,394
- “reap” frequency rank
- 17521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rape | reap |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person, regardless of gender; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on, perpetrated by, or forced to penetrate any being. | To cut (for example a grain) with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rape and reap apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
rape and reap form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rape is recorded at frequency rank #3,127, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯p/. reap is at rank #14,394, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹiːp/.
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 17521, this pair ranks #450,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rape" and "reap" be used interchangeably?
Remembering rape vs reap
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rape”; for a verb, it's “reap”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rape” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable