reapplyvsreplyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“reapply” and “reply” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,364
“reapply” frequency rank
#3,020
“reply” frequency rank
45384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reapply reply
Definition To apply again. To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.

Letter map: reapply vs reply

Shared letters muted; letters that set reapply and reply apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
reapply
5 ch
reply

Corpus notes: reapply and reply

reapply and reply are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reapply is recorded at frequency rank #42,364, classified as averb. reply is at rank #3,020, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈplaɪ/.

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 45384, this pair ranks #221,733 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reapply vs reply

Shared letters: elpry. Private to "reapply": a. Private to "reply": -.

"reapply" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "reply" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reapplyerapply · raepply · reaplpy · reaply · reapplly · reapplyy · reappyl · repaply
  • replyerply · relpy · replly · replyy · repply · repyl · rpely · rreply

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reapply" and "reply" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "reapply" vs "reply" - which ranks higher?
"reply" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,020 in our English list, against #42,364 for "reapply". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "reapply" vs "reply" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reapply" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reply" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #221,733 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reapply" and "reply" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reapply vs resupply". 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 #221,733 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