reputevsreuseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,047
“repute” frequency rank
#17,938
“reuse” frequency rank
62985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature repute reuse
Definition Reputation, especially a good reputation. The act of salvaging or in some manner restoring a discarded item to yield something usable.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set repute and reuse apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
repute
5 ch
reuse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. repute (/ɹɪˈpjuːt/) and reuse (/ɹiːˈjuːs/) 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 62985, 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/. reuse is at rank #17,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹiːˈjuːs/.

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 62985, this pair ranks #85,481 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of repute vs reuse

Shared letters: eru. Private to "repute": pt. Private to "reuse": s.

"repute" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "reuse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reputeerpute · reppute · reptue · repuet · reputte · reupte · rpeute · rrepute
  • reuseeruse · resue · reues · reusse · rreuse · ruese

Frequency comparison

repute#45,047
reuse#17,938

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "repute" and "reuse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈpjuːt/ versus /ɹiːˈjuːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "repute" or "reuse"?
"reuse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,938 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.

Remembering repute vs reuse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “repute” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list