react
/ɹiːˈækt/verb, noun
react is spelled R-E-A-C-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, react means “To act in response” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in react?
| Letters | 5: R-E-A-C-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is react?
React appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce react?
- /ɹiːˈækt/
React has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-react.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with react
Also written: re-act (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with react?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as react.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: trace, cater, crate, carte, creat, caret, acter.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of react
- reacts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- reacting participle, present
- reacted participle, past
- reäct rare
- reäcts present, singular, he/she/it
- reäcting participle, present
- reäcted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does react mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To act in response.
How did she react to the news?
- 2
archaicTo act or perform a second time; to do over again; to reenact.
- 3
To return an impulse or impression; to resist the action of another body by an opposite force
Every body reacts on the body that impels it from its natural state.
- 4
To act upon each other; to exercise a reciprocal or a reverse effect, as two or more chemical agents; to act in opposition.
- 5
To cause chemical agents to react; to cause one chemical agent to react with another.
- 6
To post a reaction (icon or emoji indicating how one feels about a posted message).
noun
- 1
An emoji used to express a reaction to a post on social media.
Sad reacts only
verb
- 1
rareRare spelling of react.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
React in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | réagir , agir de nouveau, encore agir |
| Portuguese | reagir |
| Spanish | reaccionar |
| German | reagieren |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does react come from?
From re- + act. Piecewise doublet of redact.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).