Three kinds of repetition
- Doubled words: “the the”, “to to”. These typos survive rereading because the brain skips the second word. Each comes with a one-click fix.
- The same word too close together: “The report shows… The report also shows…”. Any content word of four or more letters that reappears within the window you choose (40 words by default) is highlighted. With Match word forms on, words are compared by their stem, so write, writes and writing count as the same word.
- Repetitive sentence openings: three sentences in a row that start with the same word (“We… We… We…”) make prose sound monotonous.
Common function words (the, and, of, with…) are ignored, and intentional doubles such as “that that”, “had had” and “very very” in dialogue are not flagged as typos.
When repetition is good
Repetition is a deliberate device in speeches and persuasive writing (“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…”). In technical writing, repeating the same term is better than switching to synonyms that make readers wonder whether you mean something different. Use the highlights to decide, not to rewrite automatically.
Worked example
Here is what the Repeated Word Finder returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Match word forms: on; Check sentence openings: on. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
In order to succeed, the report was written by the team in a timely manner. It is important to note that the results were very, very good.
Basically, at the end of the day, we really need to think outside the box and leverage our synergy. Their is a lot of work to do, and the the deadline is close.
The chairman said that you guys should of known better. Its a fact that the data was analysed carefully and the color of the charts was chosen for clarity.| Found | Type | Suggestion |
|---|---|---|
| “the the” | Doubled word | the |
Questions
How do I find repeated words in my text?
Paste your text. Doubled words, words repeated within a short distance, and sentences starting with the same word are all highlighted.
Can I change how close counts as “nearby”?
Yes. Set the window in words; a smaller window finds only very close repetitions.
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