redress vs regress, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#23,968
“redress” frequency rank: #45,622
“regress” frequency rank: 69590
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	redress	regress
Definition	To put in order again; to set right; to revise.	The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set redress and regress apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

redress

7 ch

regress

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: redress is /ɹɪˈdɹɛs/ while regress is /ˈɹiːˌɡɹɛs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “redress” becomes g in “regress”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redress is recorded at frequency rank #23,968, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈdɹɛs/. regress is at rank #45,622, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹiːˌɡɹɛs/.

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 69590, this pair ranks #53,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of redress vs regress

Shared letters: ers. Private to "redress": d. Private to "regress": g.

"redress" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "regress" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

redress ← erdress · rderess · reddress · rederss · redres · redrress · redrses · rerdess
regress ← ergress · regerss · reggress · regres · regrress · regrses · rergess · rgeress

Frequency comparison

redress#23,968

regress#45,622

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "redress" and "regress" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "redress" is a verb and "regress" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "redress" or "regress"?

"redress" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,968 in our English list, against #45,622 for "regress". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering redress vs regress

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “redress”; for a noun, it's “regress”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “redress” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable