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PlainSpell

repair

re·pairUK /ɹɪˈpɛə/verb, noun

repair is spelled R-E-P-A-I-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (re·pair). It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, repair means “To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in repair?

Letters6: R-E-P-A-I-R
Syllables2: re·pair
In writing26 times per million words; the 3,558th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 repair?

Repair appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,558th 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 repair?

  • UK /ɹɪˈpɛə/
  • UK [ɹʷɪˈpɛə̯] ~ [ɹʷɪˈpɛː]
  • British /ɹɪˈpɛː/

As a noun (“The act of repairing or resorting to a place”): /ɹɪˈpɛə̯/, [ɹʷɪˈpɛə̯], /ɹəˈpɛə̯/.

As a verb (“To pair again”): /ˈɹiːpɛə̯/, [ˈɹʷɪi̯pɛə̯], /ˈɹiːpɛɚ/.

Repair has 2 syllables, split re·pair in writing.

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

Words people confuse with repair

Also written: re-pair (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with repair?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as repair from its last stressed vowel (/ɛə/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: rapier.

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 repair

  • repairs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • repairing participle, present
  • repaired participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • re-pair

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

What does repair mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.

    to repair a house, a road, a shoe, a ship

  2. 2

    To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for.

    to repair a loss or damage

  3. 3

    To transfer oneself to another place.

    to repair to sanctuary for safety

  4. 4

    To pair again.

    Please try to repair the two earbuds to each other. Place both earbuds back into the charging case, wait for four seconds, then open it and see if they have been repaired with one another.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of repairing something.

    I took the car to the workshop for repair.

  2. 2

    An act of correcting ("repairing") a mistake in communication.

  3. 3

    The result of repairing something.

    If you look closely you can see the repair in the paintwork.

  4. 4

    The condition of something, in respect of need for repair.

    The car was overall in poor repair before the accident. But after the workshop had it for three weeks it was returned in excellent repair. But the other vehicle was beyond repair.

  5. 5

    The act of repairing or resorting to a place.

    our annual repair to the mountains

  6. 6

    A place to which one goes frequently or habitually; a haunt.

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

How do you abbreviate repair?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of repair: MRO.

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

Repair in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchréparer (to restore to good working order), réparation (act of repairing something)
Germanreparieren (to restore to good working order), Reparatur (act of repairing something), Ausbesserung, Instandsetzung (result of repairing something), begeben (to transfer oneself to another place)
Portuguesereparar (to restore to good working order), reparo, conserto, reparação (act of repairing something)
Spanishreparar (to restore to good working order), reparación, reparo (result of repairing something)

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 repair come from?

Coined between 1300 and 1350 from Middle English repairen, from Middle French reparer, from Latin reparō (“renew, repair”).

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

What to look up after repair