rejectvsrepeatWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,829
“reject” frequency rank
#3,080
“repeat” frequency rank
9909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reject repeat
Definition To refuse to accept; to forswear. To do or say again (and again).

Where the eye mixes reject and repeat

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

6 ch
reject
6 ch
repeat

Why the eye confuses reject with repeat

A purely visual mix-up. reject (/ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkt/) and repeat (/ɹɪˈpiːt/) 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 9909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reject is recorded at frequency rank #6,829, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkt/. repeat is at rank #3,080, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈpiːt/.

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 9909, this pair ranks #494,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reject vs repeat

Shared letters: ert. Private to "reject": cj. Private to "repeat": ap.

"reject" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "repeat" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rejecterject · reejct · rejcet · rejecct · rejectt · rejetc · rejject · rjeect
  • repeaterpeat · reepat · repaet · repeatt · repeta · reppeat · rpeeat · rrepeat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reject" and "repeat" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkt/ versus /ɹɪˈpiːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "reject" or "repeat" show up more?
"repeat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,080 in our English list, against #6,829 for "reject". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "reject" and "repeat" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reject" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "repeat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #494,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reject" and "repeat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reheat vs reject". 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 #494,967 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