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PlainSpell

reap

/ˈɹiːp/verb, noun

reap is spelled R-E-A-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, reap means “To cut (for example a grain) with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in reap?

Letters4: R-E-A-P
Syllables1
In writing3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 reap?

Reap appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th 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 reap?

  • /ˈɹiːp/
  • [ˈɹɪi̯p]

Reap has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-reap.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with reap?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as reap.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: rape, pear, pare, aper.

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 reap

  • reaps present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • reaping participle, present
  • reaped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does reap mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To cut (for example a grain) with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine.

  2. 2

    To gather (e.g. a harvest) by cutting.

  3. 3

    To obtain or receive as a reward, in a good or a bad sense.

    to reap a benefit from exertions

  4. 4

    To terminate a child process that has previously exited, thereby removing it from the process table.

    Until a child process is reaped, it may be listed in the process table as a zombie or defunct process.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo deprive of the beard; to shave.

  6. 6

    slangTo rape.

noun

  1. 1

    A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Reap in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfaucher (to cut with a sickle or other implement)
Germanernten, schneiden, mähen, sensen, absensen (to cut with a sickle or other implement), Garbe (bundle of grain)
Portugueseceifar (to cut with a sickle or other implement), colher (to receive as a reward)
Spanishsegar, cosechar, socolar, socalar (to cut with a sickle or other implement), mies (bundle of grain), recoger (to receive as a reward)

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 reap come from?

From Middle English repen, from Old English rēopan, rēpan, variants of Old English rīpan (“to reap”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpan, from Proto-Germanic *rīpaną (compare West Frisian repe, Norwegian ripa (“to score, scratch”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after reap