rejoin vs remain, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,788
“rejoin” frequency rank: #1,574
“remain” frequency rank: 24362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	rejoin	remain
Definition	To join again; to unite after separation.	That which is left; relic; remainder.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rejoin and remain apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

rejoin

6 ch

remain

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rejoin is /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɔɪn/ while remain is /ɹɪˈmeɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rejoin is recorded at frequency rank #22,788, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɔɪn/. remain is at rank #1,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈmeɪn/.

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 24362, this pair ranks #402,514 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rejoin vs remain

Shared letters: einr. Private to "rejoin": jo. Private to "remain": am.

"rejoin" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "remain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

rejoin ← erjoin · rejion · rejjoin · rejoinn · rejoni · reojin · rjeoin · rrejoin
remain ← ermain · reamin · remainn · remani · remian · remmain · rmeain · rremain

Frequency comparison

rejoin#22,788

remain#1,574

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rejoin" and "remain" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rejoin" is a verb and "remain" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "rejoin" or "remain"?

"remain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,574 in our English list, against #22,788 for "rejoin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering rejoin vs remain

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “rejoin”; for a noun, it's “remain”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rejoin” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable