Reenforce or reinforce?
reenforce is a verb meaning “Alternative spelling of re-enforce”; reinforce is a verb meaning “To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) reinforce is about 288 times as common as reenforce.
What is the difference between reenforce and reinforce?
| reenforce | reinforce | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of re-enforce Alternative form of re-enforce Alternative form of reinforce | To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation To emphasize or review |
| Example | none recorded | He reinforced the handle with a metal rod and a bit of tape |
| Forms | reenforces, reenforcing, reenforced reënforces, reënforcing, reënforced | reinforces, reinforcing, reinforced |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌɹiː.ɪnˈfɔːs/ /ˌɹi.ɪnˈfɔɹs/ /ˌɹiː.ɪnˈfoːs/ |
| In writing | about once in every 60 million words | 4.8 times per million words |
Sources: reenforce and reinforce in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of reenforce and reinforce
reenforce
- 1
Alternative spelling of re-enforce
- 2
Alternative form of re-enforce
- 3
Alternative form of reinforce
reinforce
- 1
To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation
He reinforced the handle with a metal rod and a bit of tape
- 2
To emphasize or review
The right homework will reinforce and complement the lesson!
- 3
To encourage (a behavior or idea) through repeated stimulus
Advertising for fast food can reinforce unhealthy dietary tendencies
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, reenforce or reinforce?
reenforce appears about once in every 60 million words; reinforce 4.8 times per million words.
reenforce about once in every 60 million wordsreinforce 4.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search reenforce vs reinforce?
“reenforce vs reinforce” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“reinforce vs reenforce”, “reenforce or reinforce”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.