reputevsrespiteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,047
“repute” frequency rank
#23,084
“respite” frequency rank
68131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature repute respite
Definition Reputation, especially a good reputation. A brief interval of rest or relief.

Where the eye mixes repute and respite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
repute
7 ch
respite

Visual trap between repute and respite

A purely visual mix-up. repute (/ɹɪˈpjuːt/) and respite (/ˈɹɛsˌpaɪt/) 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 68131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

repute is recorded at frequency rank #45,047, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈpjuːt/. respite is at rank #23,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛsˌpaɪt/.

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 68131, this pair ranks #60,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of repute vs respite

Shared letters: eprt. Private to "repute": u. Private to "respite": is.

"repute" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "respite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reputeerpute · reppute · reptue · repuet · reputte · reupte · rpeute · rrepute
  • respiteerspite · repsite · resipte · respiet · respitte · resppite · resptie · resspite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "repute" for "respite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈpjuːt/ versus /ˈɹɛsˌpaɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "repute" vs "respite" - which ranks higher?
"respite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,084 in our English list, against #45,047 for "repute". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "repute" and "respite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "repute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "respite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "repute" and "respite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebut vs repute". 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 #60,292 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