remind vs remiss, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“remind” is a verb and “remiss” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,840
“remind” frequency rank: #46,142
“remiss” frequency rank: 49982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	remind	remiss
Definition	To cause one to experience a memory (of someone or something); to bring to the notice or consideration (of a person).	At fault; failing to fulfill responsibility, duty, or obligations.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

remind

6 ch

remiss

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: remind is /ɹəˈmaɪnd/ while remiss is /ɹəˈmɪs/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

remind is recorded at frequency rank #3,840, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹəˈmaɪnd/. remiss is at rank #46,142, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹəˈmɪs/.

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 49982, this pair ranks #178,441 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of remind vs remiss

Shared letters: eimr. Private to "remind": dn. Private to "remiss": s.

"remind" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "remiss" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

remind ← ermind · reimnd · remidn · remindd · reminnd · remmind · remnid · rmeind
remiss ← ermiss · reimss · remis · remmiss · remsis · rmeiss · rremiss

Frequency comparison

remind#3,840

remiss#46,142

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "remind" and "remiss" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "remind" is a verb and "remiss" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "remind" or "remiss"?

"remind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,840 in our English list, against #46,142 for "remiss". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering remind vs remiss

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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