Which to use
“remain” and “remand” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,574
- “remain” frequency rank
- #32,561
- “remand” frequency rank
- 34135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | remain | remand |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That which is left; relic; remainder. | The act of sending an accused person back into custody whilst awaiting trial. |
Where the eye mixes remain and remand
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. remain (CVCVVC) and remand (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between remain and remand
A purely visual mix-up. remain (/ɹɪˈmeɪn/) and remand (/ɹɪˈmɑːnd/) 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 34135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
remain is recorded at frequency rank #1,574, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈmeɪn/. remand is at rank #32,561, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈmɑːnd/.
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 34135, this pair ranks #323,340 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of remain vs remand
Shared letters: aemnr. Private to "remain": i. Private to "remand": d.
"remain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "remand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "remain" and "remand" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "remain" or "remand" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "remain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "remand" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,340 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "remain" and "remand" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "remand vs Riemann". 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 #323,340 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.