Which to use
“recite” and “revive” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,200
- “recite” frequency rank
- #11,596
- “revive” frequency rank
- 31796
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recite | revive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To repeat aloud (some passage, poem or other text previously memorized, or in front of one's eyes), often before an audience. | To cause (a person or animal) to recover from a faint; to cause (a person or animal) to return to a state of consciousness. |
Where the eye mixes recite and revive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recite and revive follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: recite vs revive
A purely visual mix-up. recite (/ɹɪˈsaɪt/) and revive (/ɹɪˈvaɪv/) 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 31796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recite is recorded at frequency rank #20,200, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsaɪt/. revive is at rank #11,596, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈvaɪv/.
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 31796, this pair ranks #343,131 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recite vs revive
Shared letters: eir. Private to "recite": ct. Private to "revive": v.
"recite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "revive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recite" and "revive" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "recite" or "revive"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "recite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "revive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,131 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recite" and "revive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recite vs repute". 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 #343,131 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.