Re-establish or reestablish?
re-establish is a verb meaning “Alternative form of reestablish”; reestablish is a verb meaning “To establish again”. re-establish is written with a hyphen and reestablish as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between re-establish and reestablish?
| re-establish | reestablish | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | Alternative form of reestablish | To establish again To restore to a previously operational state Dated spelling of reestablish |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | re-establishes, re-establishing, re-established | reestablishes, reestablishing, reestablished reëstablishes, reëstablishing, reëstablished |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: re-establish and reestablish in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of re-establish and reestablish
re-establish
- 1
Alternative form of reestablish
reestablish
- 1
To establish again
- 2
Dated spelling of reestablish
- 3
To restore to a previously operational state
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, re-establish or reestablish?
re-establish is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; reestablish about once in every 2 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search re-establish vs reestablish?
“re-establish vs reestablish” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.