Which to use
“repress” is a verb and “reprise” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,313
- “repress” frequency rank
- #30,566
- “reprise” frequency rank
- 66879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | repress | reprise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To forcefully prevent an upheaval from developing further. | A recurrence or resumption of an action. |
Where the eye mixes repress and reprise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. repress (CVCCVCC) and reprise (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between repress and reprise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: repress is /ɹəˈpɹɛs/ while reprise is /ɹɪˈpɹiːz/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
repress is recorded at frequency rank #36,313, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹəˈpɹɛs/. reprise is at rank #30,566, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈpɹiːz/.
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 66879, this pair ranks #65,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of repress vs reprise
Shared letters: eprs. Private to "repress": -. Private to "reprise": i.
"repress" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "reprise" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "repress" for "reprise" ever safe?
Which is more common, "repress" or "reprise"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "repress" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reprise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "repress" and "reprise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regress vs repress". 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 #65,993 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.