removevsrevokeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,013
“remove” frequency rank
#20,760
“revoke” frequency rank
22773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature remove revoke
Definition To delete. To cancel or invalidate by withdrawing or reversing.

Where the eye mixes remove and revoke

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

6 ch
remove
6 ch
revoke

Visual trap between remove and revoke

A purely visual mix-up. remove (/ɹɪˈmuːv/) and revoke (/ɹɪˈvoʊk/) 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 22773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

remove is recorded at frequency rank #2,013, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈmuːv/. revoke is at rank #20,760, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈvoʊk/.

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 22773, this pair ranks #414,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of remove vs revoke

Shared letters: eorv. Private to "remove": m. Private to "revoke": k.

"remove" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "revoke" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • removeermove · remmove · remoev · removve · remvoe · reomve · rmeove · rremove
  • revokeervoke · reovke · revkoe · revoek · revokke · revvoke · rrevoke · rveoke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "remove" for "revoke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈmuːv/ versus /ɹɪˈvoʊk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "remove" or "revoke"?
"remove" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,013 in our English list, against #20,760 for "revoke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "remove" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "revoke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #414,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "remove" and "revoke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repose vs revoke". 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 #414,119 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