A reprieve cancels or delays a punishment, or gives temporary relief from something difficult — as in a prisoner reprieved from execution. A reprise is a repeat: a performer reprising a role, or a musical passage returning later in a show. They sound similar and share a distant root, but one is about relief and the other about repetition.
The core difference
Reprieve means relief from punishment; reprise means a repeat performance.
- reprieve — cancel or delay a punishment, or give temporary relief: The governor reprieved the prisoner just hours before the scheduled execution.
- reprise — perform or take on a role, act, or piece of music again: She will reprise her role as the detective in the sequel.
How to tell them apart
Both words trace back to French verbs meaning "to take back", which is why they look and sound alike, but their modern meanings pull apart. Think of reprieve as taking a punishment back — cancelling or postponing it — while reprise is taking a role or a tune back for another go, as when a cast performs a reprise of the opening number.
The mix-up tends to appear in reviews and write-ups of theatre and film, where someone means an actor is returning to a role (a reprise) but writes "reprieve" instead. If nothing about punishment or relief is involved, reprise is almost certainly the word you want.
