To rearrange means to change the order or position of things, organizing them in a new way. When you rearrange your bedroom, you might move your desk from one wall to another or put your bookshelf in a different spot. When your teacher rearranges the seating chart, students who sat in the back might find themselves up front.

The word suggests taking existing pieces and shuffling them into a fresh configuration. You can rearrange words in a sentence to change its meaning, rearrange furniture to make a room feel more spacious, or rearrange your schedule to fit in soccer practice. Musicians rearrange songs by changing the instruments or tempo while keeping the same melody.

Sometimes rearranging solves a problem: rearranging the letters in “listen” gives you “silent.” Other times it simply creates variety. A furniture store might rearrange its displays every month to keep things interesting. The key idea is that you're working with what you already have, just putting it together differently. When your mom asks you to rearrange the groceries in the pantry, she wants you to organize them better, not throw them away and start over.