repeatvsrepeatedTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,080
“repeat” frequency rank
#4,481
“repeated” frequency rank
7561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature repeat repeated
Definition To do or say again (and again). simple past and past participle of repeat

Where the eye mixes repeat and repeated

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
repeat
8 ch
repeated

Visual trap between repeat and repeated

A purely visual mix-up. repeat (/ɹɪˈpiːt/) and repeated (/ɹɪˈpiːtɪd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “repeat” sits inside “repeated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

repeat is recorded at frequency rank #3,080, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈpiːt/. repeated is at rank #4,481, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈpiːtɪd/.

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 7561, this pair ranks #506,591 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of repeat vs repeated

Shared letters: aeprt. Private to "repeat": -. Private to "repeated": d.

"repeat" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "repeated" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • repeaterpeat · reepat · repaet · repeatt · repeta · reppeat · rpeeat · rrepeat
  • repeatederpeated · reepated · repaeted · repeaetd · repeatde · repeatedd · repeatted · repetaed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "repeat" and "repeated" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈpiːt/ versus /ɹɪˈpiːtɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "repeat" or "repeated"?
"repeat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,080 in our English list, against #4,481 for "repeated". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "repeat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "repeated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #506,591 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "repeat" and "repeated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reheat vs repeat". 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 #506,591 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