Which to use
“rebut” and “recur” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,289
- “rebut” frequency rank
- #44,442
- “recur” frequency rank
- 91731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rebut | recur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To drive back or beat back; to repulse. | Of an event, situation, etc.: to appear or happen again, especially repeatedly. |
Where the eye mixes rebut and recur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rebut and recur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between rebut and recur
A purely visual mix-up. rebut (/ɹɪˈbʌt/) and recur (/ɹɪˈkɜː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rebut is recorded at frequency rank #47,289, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈbʌt/. recur is at rank #44,442, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈkɜː/.
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 91731, this pair ranks #3,085 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rebut vs recur
Shared letters: eru. Private to "rebut": bt. Private to "recur": c.
"rebut" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "recur" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rebut" and "recur" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "rebut" vs "recur" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "rebut" and "recur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rebut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,085 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rebut" and "recur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebar vs rebut". 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 #3,085 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.