Words that hyphenate differently

29 July 2026

There are various words in British English that have different hyphenations depending on their meanings and pronunciations. The following is a list of those I have come across, some of which arose in conversations on Mastodon.¹ The examples below are all per the New Oxford Spelling Dictionary (hereafter NOSD),² which is the authority for word divisions in British English and is used by Oxford University Press.

• annexes (verb) / an‑nexes (plural noun).
  (In British English, the singular noun is an‑nexe, which does not match the first/second person singular simple present annex.)
• at‑trib‑ute (verb) / at‑tri‑bute (noun);
  at‑trib‑utes (verb) / at‑tri‑butes (noun).
• cur‑ric‑ulum vitae / school cur‑ricu‑lum.
• des‑ert (arid region, abandon) / de‑sert (comeuppance);
  des‑erts (arid regions, abandons) / de‑serts (comeuppances).
  (NOSD only gives de‑serts, presumably because the singular is rare while the plural occurs in ‘just deserts’.)
• learned (verb) / learn-ed (adjective).
• mi‑nute (tiny) / min‑ute (60 sec‑onds, note, make such a note).
• pre‑sent (verb) / pres‑ent (noun);
  pre‑sents (verb) / pres‑ents (noun).
• pro‑duce (verb) / prod‑uce (noun).
• re‑cord (verb) / rec‑ord (noun);
  re‑cords (verb) / rec‑ords (noun).
• re‑bels (verb) / reb‑els (plural noun).
  (NOSD often prescribes no hyphenation of words with fewer than six letters; otherwise re‑bel (verb) / reb‑el (noun) would be present here.)
• rec‑ol‑lect (remember) / re‑col‑lect (collect again; compose self);
  rec‑ol‑lects (remembers) / re‑col‑lects (collects again; composes self).
• re‑fuse (do not consent) / ref‑use (rubbish).
• se‑cond (transfer) / sec‑ond (1/60 of a min‑ute, next after 1st);
  se‑conds (transfers) / sec‑onds (n/60 of a min‑ute, additions after 1st).

Explicit hyphens

There are various words beginning re‑ that have explicit hyphens when they have the sense ‘do again’. Thus re‑present (present again) has an explicit hyphen, while rep‑re‑sent (act for) can be divided in difference places.

But sometimes the explict hyphen is in the same place as the discretionary division point: re‑dress (dress again), re‑sort (sort again) each take an explicit hyphen; re‑dress (remedy), re‑sort (location, recourse, turn to) can optionally be divided.

There is at least one case where ambiguity is avoided by the ‘do again’ meaning not taking an explicit hyphen: re‑draw (draw again) can optionally be divided, red‑raw (red and raw) has an explicit hyphen.

Changes in stress but not in hyphenation

There are various verb/noun pairs where the stress changes but the hyphenation does not: ab‑stract, ac‑cent, ad‑dress, ally, com‑bat, com‑pound, con‑cern, con‑duct, con‑flict, con‑script, con‑sort, con‑tract, con‑trast, con‑verse, con‑vert, con‑vict, de‑crease, de‑tail, dis‑charge, es‑cort, ex‑ploit, ex‑tract, fi‑nance, frag‑ment, im‑pact, im‑print, in‑crease, in‑sert, in‑sult, man‑date, ob‑ject, per‑mit, per‑vert, pro‑cess, pro‑gress, pro‑ject, pro‑test, ram‑page, recap, re‑call, re‑fill, re‑fund, re‑ject, re‑play, sub‑ject, sur‑vey, sus‑pect, tor‑ment, trans‑fer, trans‑plant, trans‑port, upset.

There are similar verb/adjective pairs: fre‑quent, per‑fect.

And adjective/noun pairs: au‑gust (venerable) /Au‑gust (month), in‑valid.

(There are some near-miss pairs like bas‑ti‑nados (verb) / bas‑tin‑adoes (plural noun), en‑velop (verb) / en‑vel‑ope (noun), proph‑ecies (plural noun) / proph‑es‑ies (verb).)

Contextual variations in stress

There are various past participles that are sometimes stressed on the ‑ed when used adjectivally, just as learned is always stressed thus when used adjectively. This stress may depend on accent and on context, and is sometimes indicated using a grave accent: èd. Thus winged, which is not hyphenatable as a verb, may be hyphenatable when it is stressed on the second syllable: ‘And that a wing‑èd Mercury did bear’.³ Other exampled might be blessed / bless-èd, cursed/ cur-sèd

Notes