Which to use
“remain” is a noun and “repaid” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,574
- “remain” frequency rank
- #19,960
- “repaid” frequency rank
- 21534
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | remain | repaid |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That which is left; relic; remainder. | simple past and past participle of repay |
Where the eye mixes remain and repaid
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: remain vs repaid
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: remain is /ɹɪˈmeɪn/ while repaid is /ɹɪˈpeɪd/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21534, 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/. 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 21534, this pair ranks #423,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of remain vs repaid
Shared letters: aeir. Private to "remain": mn. Private to "repaid": dp.
"remain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "repaid" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "remain" for "repaid" ever safe?
Frequency check: "remain" vs "repaid" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "remain" and "repaid" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "remain" 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 #423,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "remain" 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 #423,189 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.