Pay and Repay

Pay

Pay verb - To give (someone) the sum of money owed for goods or services received.
Usage example: we need to pay the cashier and then we can leave

Repay is a synonym for pay in action topic. In some cases you can use "Repay" instead a verb "Pay", when it comes to topics like give, benefit, disburse, money. popular alternative

Nearby Words: payment, paid, paying, payable, payout

Repay

Repay verb - To make a return for.
Usage example: how can we ever repay your kindness?

Pay is a synonym for repay in action topic. You can use "Pay" instead a verb "Repay", if it concerns topics such as give, disburse, finance, money. popular alternative

Nearby Words: repayment, repaying, repayable

Common collocations

life pay life repay life
people pay people repay people
cost pay cost repay cost
price pay price repay price
Other words: time, way, money, debt, fee, salary, times, debts, sums.

Both words in one sentence

  • In an episode of My Name Is Earl, Earl is trying to repay the government tax money he didn't pay (that they wouldn't accept) by doing some work.
  • Human Resources Tower of God - Ja Wangnan has run himself so much into debt that he could never hope to repay, but his Loan Sharks give him one last chance: they'll pay for the next test he'll take, but he will have give up all his organs if he fails.
  • Film / The World's End Gary's Mum." Earlier in the film, as the group works out that Gary borrowed from all of them in order to repay his debt to Andy, Gary confesses that it wasn't a case of robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul, it was "borrowing off Peter to pay Andy.
Cite this Source
Repay and Pay. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/pay/repay
Pay & Repay. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/pay/repay>.
Repay or Pay. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/pay/repay.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "pay" and "repay" have occurred on timeline