restore
To bring something back to how it was before.
- Volunteers worked hard to restore the old steam train.
- A good night's sleep will restore your energy.
Similar: repair, renew, revive
restore or revive?
Restore brings back how something was. Revive brings back life or energy.
Both words start with re, both mean bringing back, and children use them interchangeably. The difference is what is being brought back.
Restore is about condition. Volunteers restore an old steam train by fixing the engine and repainting it until it looks as it did years ago. You can also restore order in a noisy classroom, or restore a photo that has faded. The thing was there all along; it just needs to be put back how it was.
Revive is about life and energy. A watering can revives a drooping plant on a hot afternoon, and a cold drink revives tired runners after a race. You revive something that was fading or had gone flat, and it comes back to life.
Both words, side by side
revive
To bring something back to life or strength.
- A splash of cold water revived the wilting sunflower within an hour.
- A hot chocolate by the fire will revive you after sledging all afternoon in the snow.
Similar: refresh, renew, wake
Why it costs marks
In cloze passages, both words can look possible. Checking whether the gap is about condition (an old building, a painting) or about life and energy (a plant, a tired person) is how a child picks the one the sentence really needs.
Definitions and example sentences on this page are the ones a child sees inside Wordrealm, taken from our list of over 1,100 words. It is free to browse, with nothing to sign up for.
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test