reducevsrevueConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,916
“reduce” frequency rank
#26,575
“revue” frequency rank
28491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reduce revue
Definition To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower. A form of theatrical entertainment in which recent events, popular fads, etc., are parodied.

Where the eye mixes reduce and revue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
reduce
5 ch
revue

Visual trap between reduce and revue

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reduce is /ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/ while revue is /ɹəˈvjuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reduce is recorded at frequency rank #1,916, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/. revue is at rank #26,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹəˈvjuː/.

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 28491, this pair ranks #370,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reduce vs revue

Shared letters: eru. Private to "reduce": cd. Private to "revue": v.

"reduce" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "revue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reduceerduce · rdeuce · redcue · redduce · reducce · reduec · reudce · rreduce
  • revueervue · reuve · reveu · revvue · rrevue · rveue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reduce" and "revue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reduce" is a verb and "revue" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "reduce" or "revue" show up more?
"reduce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,916 in our English list, against #26,575 for "revue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reduce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "revue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #370,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reduce" and "revue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "revue vs roque". 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 #370,649 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