revivevsrevueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: revive is a verb, revue is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“revive” is a verb and “revue” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,596
“revive” frequency rank
#26,575
“revue” frequency rank
38171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature revive revue
Definition To cause (a person or animal) to recover from a faint; to cause (a person or animal) to return to a state of consciousness. A form of theatrical entertainment in which recent events, popular fads, etc., are parodied.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
revive
5 ch
revue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: revive is /ɹɪˈvaɪv/ while revue is /ɹəˈvjuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

revive is recorded at frequency rank #11,596, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈvaɪv/. revue is at rank #26,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹəˈvjuː/.

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 38171, this pair ranks #288,237 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of revive vs revue

Shared letters: erv. Private to "revive": i. Private to "revue": u.

"revive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "revue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reviveervive · reivve · reviev · revivve · revvie · revvive · rrevive · rveive
  • revueervue · reuve · reveu · revvue · rrevue · rveue

Frequency comparison

revive#11,596
revue#26,575

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "revive" and "revue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "revive" is a verb and "revue" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "revive" or "revue"?
"revive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,596 in our English list, against #26,575 for "revue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering revive vs revue

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “revive”; for a noun, it's “revue”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “revive” 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