Re-run or rerun?
re-run is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of rerun”; rerun is a noun meaning “An act or instance of rerunning; a repetition”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. re-run is written with a hyphen and rerun as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between re-run and rerun?
| re-run | rerun | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of rerun | An act or instance of rerunning; a repetition USA television program shown after its initial presentation, particularly many weeks after its initial presentation; a repeat To run again; to repeat |
| Example | none recorded | I'm not a fan of the new Simpsons episodes, but the old reruns have me in stitches, although I've seen them countless times |
| Forms | re-runs | reruns |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈɹiːɹʌn/ /ˈɹiɹʌn/ /ɹiːˈɹʌn/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: re-run and rerun 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-run and rerun
re-run
- 1
Alternative spelling of rerun
- 2
Alternative spelling of rerun
rerun
- 1
An act or instance of rerunning; a repetition
- 2
To run again; to repeat
- 3
USA television program shown after its initial presentation, particularly many weeks after its initial presentation; a repeat
I'm not a fan of the new Simpsons episodes, but the old reruns have me in stitches, although I've seen them countless times
- 4
To broadcast (a television program etc.) again
They're still rerunning The Flintstones on this channel
- 5
Another printing run (impression; batch of copies of a given edition) of a book, cartoon, etc
- 6
To be broadcast again
- 7
A political candidate who holds the same political agenda or doctrine as a past or incumbent holder of a given political office
- 8
To run (a race or other contest) again
rerun the election
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-run or rerun?
re-run is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; rerun about once in every 1 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-run vs rerun?
“re-run vs rerun” 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.