Which to use
“repaid” and “repaint” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,960
- “repaid” frequency rank
- #46,731
- “repaint” frequency rank
- 66691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | repaid | repaint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of repay | To paint anew or again, especially if recently painted. |
Where the eye mixes repaid and repaint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses repaid with repaint
A purely visual mix-up. repaid (/ɹɪˈpeɪd/) and repaint (/ɹiːˈpeɪnt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
repaid is recorded at frequency rank #19,960, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈpeɪd/. repaint is at rank #46,731, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹiːˈpeɪnt/.
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 66691, this pair ranks #66,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of repaid vs repaint
Shared letters: aeipr. Private to "repaid": d. Private to "repaint": nt.
"repaid" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "repaint" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "repaid" for "repaint" ever safe?
Which is more common, "repaid" or "repaint"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "repaid" and "repaint" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "repaid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "repaint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "repaid" and "repaint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repaint vs repent". 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 #66,820 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.