# rife vs riven

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### rife
*adjective · IPA /ɹaɪf/ · frequency rank #23,975*
Widespread, common, prevalent, current (mainly of unpleasant or harmful things).

### riven
*verb · IPA /ˈɹɪvən/ · frequency rank #40,878*
past participle of rive

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rife-vs-riven