repeat offender

noun

"repeat-offender" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“repeat offender” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who has previously offended against the law, often someone who may be deemed incorrigible.

Key facts for repeat offender
PropertyValue
Headwordrepeat offender
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “repeat offender” sits in English frequency

repeat offender falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

repeat offender is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for repeat offender in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is repeat offender, spelled R-E-P-E-A-T- -O-F-F-E-N-D-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who has previously offended against the law, often someone who may be deemed incorrigible.
  2. 2
    One who performs a specific (often undesirable) action on multiple occasions.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "repeat offender"?
"repeat offender" is spelled R-E-P-E-A-T- -O-F-F-E-N-D-E-R.
What does "repeat offender" mean?
As a noun, "repeat offender" means: A person who has previously offended against the law, often someone who may be deemed incorrigible.
What language does "repeat offender" come from?
"repeat offender" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “repeat offender”

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

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