repay vs repo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“repay” is a verb and “repo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,953
“repay” frequency rank: #25,550
“repo” frequency rank: 37503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	repay	repo
Definition	Synonym of pay back in all senses.	Clipping of repossession, most commonly of a vehicle, house or condominium.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set repay and repo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

repay

4 ch

repo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: repay is /ɹiˈpeɪ/ while repo is /ˈɹɛpoʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

repay is recorded at frequency rank #11,953, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹiˈpeɪ/. repo is at rank #25,550, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛpoʊ/.

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 37503, this pair ranks #294,001 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of repay vs repo

Shared letters: epr. Private to "repay": ay. Private to "repo": o.

"repay" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "repo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

repay ← erpay · reapy · repayy · reppay · repya · rpeay · rrepay
repo ← erpo · reop · reppo · rpeo · rrepo

Frequency comparison

repay#11,953

repo#25,550

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "repay" and "repo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "repay" is a verb and "repo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "repay" or "repo"?

"repay" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,953 in our English list, against #25,550 for "repo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering repay vs repo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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