regainvsrejoinWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“regain” and “rejoin” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,751
“regain” frequency rank
#22,788
“rejoin” frequency rank
33539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regain rejoin
Definition To get back; to recover possession of. To join again; to unite after separation.

Where the eye mixes regain and rejoin

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

6 ch
regain
6 ch
rejoin

Visual trap between regain and rejoin

A purely visual mix-up. regain (/ɹiːˈɡeɪn/) and rejoin (/ɹɪˈd͡ʒɔɪn/) 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 33539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regain is recorded at frequency rank #10,751, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹiːˈɡeɪn/. rejoin is at rank #22,788, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɔɪn/.

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 33539, this pair ranks #328,543 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regain vs rejoin

Shared letters: einr. Private to "regain": ag. Private to "rejoin": jo.

"regain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "rejoin" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regainergain · reagin · regainn · regani · reggain · regian · rgeain · rregain
  • rejoinerjoin · rejion · rejjoin · rejoinn · rejoni · reojin · rjeoin · rrejoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regain" for "rejoin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹiːˈɡeɪn/ versus /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɔɪn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "regain" or "rejoin"?
"regain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,751 in our English list, against #22,788 for "rejoin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rejoin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #328,543 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regain" and "rejoin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regain vs repaint". 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 #328,543 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