Learn English – What’s the difference between “word for word” and “word by word”

difference

I have read a sentence :

I memorize a sentence word for word.

I wonder: what's the difference between "word by word" and "word for word" ? Why use "for"? What's the meaning of "for" here?

Best Answer

Word for word means you've committed it to memory exactly. If you recite it, every single word will be exactly correct, the same as the words you read earlier. This phrase is about accuracy.

Word by word means that you memorized it one word at a time. It's more about the method you used while memorizing than the accuracy of the result.