reapingvsretakingTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#30,560
“reaping” frequency rank
#49,592
“retaking” frequency rank
80152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reaping retaking
Definition present participle and gerund of reap The act of taking again.

Letter map: reaping vs retaking

Shared letters muted; letters that set reaping and retaking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. reaping runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against retaking's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
reaping
8 ch
retaking

Role in the sentence - reaping and retaking

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reaping is averb and retakinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reaping is recorded at frequency rank #30,560, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹiːpɪŋ/. retaking is at rank #49,592, tagged as anoun.

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 80152, this pair ranks #20,469 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reaping vs retaking

Shared letters: aeginr. Private to "reaping": p. Private to "retaking": kt.

"reaping" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "retaking" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reaping ← eraping · raeping · reaipng · reapign · reapingg · reapinng · reapnig · reapping
  • retaking ← ertaking · reatking · retaikng · retakign · retakingg · retakinng · retakking · retaknig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reaping" and "retaking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reaping" is a verb and "retaking" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reaping" vs "retaking" - which ranks higher?
"reaping" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,560 in our English list, against #49,592 for "retaking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "reaping" and "retaking". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reaping" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retaking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,469 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reaping" and "retaking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retaking vs revoking". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #20,469 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list