ravinevsreviveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ravine is a noun, revive is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ravine” is a noun and “revive” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,965
“ravine” frequency rank
#11,596
“revive” frequency rank
35561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ravine revive
Definition A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water. To cause (a person or animal) to recover from a faint; to cause (a person or animal) to return to a state of consciousness.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ravine and revive apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ravine
6 ch
revive

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ravine is /ɹəˈviːn/ while revive is /ɹɪˈvaɪv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ravine is recorded at frequency rank #23,965, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹəˈviːn/. revive is at rank #11,596, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈvaɪv/.

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 35561, this pair ranks #310,914 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ravine vs revive

Shared letters: eirv. Private to "ravine": an. Private to "revive": -.

"ravine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "revive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ravinearvine · raivne · ravien · ravinne · ravnie · ravvine · rravine · rvaine
  • reviveervive · reivve · reviev · revivve · revvie · revvive · rrevive · rveive

Frequency comparison

ravine#23,965
revive#11,596

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ravine" and "revive" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ravine" is a noun and "revive" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ravine" or "revive"?
"revive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,596 in our English list, against #23,965 for "ravine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ravine vs revive

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ravine”; for a verb, it's “revive”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ravine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list