Duplicate Word Finder
Find doubled words like “the the” and words you repeat too close together. The duplicate word finder highlights every repeat in your text, lists your most repeated words, and removes accidental doubles in one click, while leaving correct doubles like “had had” for you to check.
- Finds “the the”
- Nearby repeats
- One-click fix with undo
Repeats in your text
Doubled words are marked in red. A word that comes back within the distance you chose is marked in yellow; hover or tap a mark to see how far back it was.
- Doubled word
- Doubled, often correct
- Nearby repeat
Your text appears here with the matches highlighted.
Doubled words found
The same word twice in a row with only a space or line break between them, like “the the”.
| # | Doubled | In context | Check |
|---|
No doubled words. Nice and clean.
Most repeated words
Words you use more than once, with how many times they come back within a few words of themselves. Common words are left out.
| Word | Times used | Nearby repeats | Density |
|---|
Repeated words appear here.
How to find duplicate words
Checking a text for repeated words takes three steps with the duplicate word finder.
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Paste your text
An essay, an email, a report or a chapter. Doubled words are found as you type.
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Choose the distance
Pick how close a repeat has to be before it’s flagged: within 5, 10, 20 or 50 words. Common words like “the” are ignored for nearby repeats unless you include them.
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Fix the repeats
Doubled words are marked in red and nearby repeats in yellow. Press “Remove doubled words” to fix accidental doubles at once, or edit by hand. Undo is one click away.
The sample has two accidental doubles, “the the” and “was was”, plus “that that”, which is marked separately because it can be correct. “Shop”, “bread” and “walk” are repeated within ten words of themselves.
Why it’s easy to miss doubled words
When you read, your eyes jump from word to word and your brain predicts what comes next, so a repeated short word such as the, a or to is easy to skip. It’s even harder to see when the double falls across a line break, with one copy at the end of a line and the other at the start of the next.
A duplicate word finder doesn’t read for meaning, so it can’t skip anything. It checks every pair of neighbouring words and flags the ones that match, with only spaces or a line break between them. Words separated by punctuation, such as “Bye, bye” or “No. No way”, are left alone.
Doubled words that can be correct
Some doubles are good English. The duplicate word finder marks these in orange and never removes them for you.
| Double | Correct example | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| had had | She had had enough by noon. | Past perfect of “have”: had + had. |
| that that | He said that that plan was fine. | A conjunction followed by a pointing word. |
| is is | What it is is a mistake. | Two different clauses meet. |
| do do | They do do their homework. | Emphatic “do”. |
| very very | It was very, very cold. | Repetition for emphasis, usually with a comma. |
| bye bye, so so | Bye bye! The film was so so. | Fixed expressions. |
If a correct double reads awkwardly, rewording often helps: “He said the plan was fine.”
What the duplicate word finder checks
The finder looks for two kinds of repetition.
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2×
Doubled words
The same word twice in a row, such as “the the” or “is is”. Almost always a typo.
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↔
Nearby repeats
A word used again within 5, 10, 20 or 50 words, such as “shop … shop” in one sentence. A style issue, not an error.
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#
Most repeated words
Each word you use more than once, with how many times it comes back close to itself.
How to fix repeated words
Doubled words are typos: delete one copy, or press Remove doubled words to fix them all at once (doubles that may be correct are kept).
Nearby repeats are a matter of style. To fix them:
- Use a pronoun after the first mention: “the shop … it”.
- Choose a synonym, but only when it means the same thing; repeating a technical term is often clearer than changing it.
- Merge the sentences so the word only needs to appear once.
- Leave deliberate repetition alone. Repetition is a tool in speeches, slogans and poems.
For a full ranked list of the words you use most, try the Word Frequency Counter. To remove repeated lines from a list instead, use the Line Counter.
Other ways to find repeated words
Word processors catch some doubled words, but not nearby repeats.
| App | What it finds | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Word | Doubled words, underlined as you type | File → Options → Proofing → “Flag repeated words”. |
| This duplicate word finder | Doubled words, nearby repeats and the most repeated words | In your browser, for any text. |
Duplicate word finder FAQ
What is a duplicate word?
The same word written twice in a row, such as “the the” or “and and”. It’s one of the most common typos and easy to miss when reading.
Does it find words repeated across a line break?
Yes. “the” at the end of one line and “the” at the start of the next is flagged as a doubled word.
Will it remove “had had”?
No. Doubles that are often correct, such as “had had” and “that that”, are marked separately so you can decide. Only accidental doubles are removed.
What is a nearby repeat?
A word that appears again within the distance you choose, such as 10 words. It isn’t a mistake, but repeating a word that close can make writing feel clumsy.
Why aren’t words like “the” flagged as nearby repeats?
Common words repeat in every sentence, so they’re ignored for nearby repeats by default. They’re always checked for doubles like “the the”.
Can I undo the fix?
Yes. After “Remove doubled words”, an Undo button brings back your original text.
How do I remove duplicate words from a list?
Paste the list into the Unique Word Counter and press “Copy unique words” to get each word once.
Is my text private?
Yes. The check runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Sources and references
- Options.RepeatWord property (Word), Microsoft Learn
- Concision, Purdue OWL
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