Which to use
“regain” and “repaid” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,751
- “regain” frequency rank
- #19,960
- “repaid” frequency rank
- 30711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | regain | repaid |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To get back; to recover possession of. | simple past and past participle of repay |
Where the eye mixes regain and repaid
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between regain and repaid
A purely visual mix-up. regain (/ɹiːˈɡeɪn/) and repaid (/ɹɪˈpeɪd/) 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 30711, 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/. repaid is at rank #19,960, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈpeɪd/.
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 30711, this pair ranks #352,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of regain vs repaid
Shared letters: aeir. Private to "regain": gn. Private to "repaid": dp.
"regain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "repaid" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "regain" and "repaid" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "regain" vs "repaid" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "regain" and "repaid" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "regain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "repaid" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "regain" and "repaid" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repaid 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 #352,222 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.