Which to use
“repulsion” and “revulsion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,733
- “repulsion” frequency rank
- #41,351
- “revulsion” frequency rank
- 88084
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | repulsion | revulsion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of repelling or the condition of being repelled. | Abhorrence, a sense of loathing, intense aversion, repugnance, repulsion, horror. |
Where the eye mixes repulsion and revulsion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses repulsion with revulsion
A purely visual mix-up. repulsion (/ɹɪˈpʌlʃən/) and revulsion (/ɹɪˈvʌlʃən/) 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 a single letter - p in “repulsion” becomes v in “revulsion”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
repulsion is recorded at frequency rank #46,733, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈpʌlʃən/. revulsion is at rank #41,351, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈvʌlʃən/.
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 88084, this pair ranks #6,816 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of repulsion vs revulsion
Shared letters: eilnorsu. Private to "repulsion": p. Private to "revulsion": v.
"repulsion" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "revulsion" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "repulsion" and "revulsion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "repulsion" or "revulsion"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "repulsion" and "revulsion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "repulsion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "revulsion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,816 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "repulsion" and "revulsion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recursion vs repulsion". 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 #6,816 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.