recommence

verb

"recommence" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“recommence” is uncommon English (frequency #88,767 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,767
frequency rank, English
21,470
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To begin again.

Key facts for recommence
PropertyValue
Headwordrecommence
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters10
Frequency rank#88,767
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “recommence” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). recommence lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

recommence is uncommon English at frequency #88,767 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To begin again.".

recommence has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French recommencer, from Old French recommencier. The correct English form is recommence, spelled R-E-C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To begin again.

Etymology

From Middle French recommencer, from Old French recommencier.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "recommence"?
"recommence" is spelled R-E-C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E.
What does "recommence" mean?
As a verb, "recommence" means: To begin again.
What is the origin of the word "recommence"?
From Middle French recommencer, from Old French recommencier. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “recommence”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

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