diff --git a/.changeset/check-reworded-errors.md b/.changeset/check-reworded-errors.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc6656e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/check-reworded-errors.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'uptide': patch
+---
+
+`check` no longer reports a pre-existing type error as a breaking site when the upgrade only changes its wording, such as a type the message prints in full. An error at the same place with a different reason is still reported.
diff --git a/docs/packs.md b/docs/packs.md
index 1ad07b7..9df385a 100644
--- a/docs/packs.md
+++ b/docs/packs.md
@@ -235,6 +235,16 @@ executed. They are kept in `~/.cache/uptide/ground-truth` (`UPTIDE_GROUND_TRUTH_
 `pack test --offline` runs without network after the first time. `pnpm packs:fetch` fills
 the cache for every pack (and `--corpus` for the repositories in `fixtures/corpus.json`).
 
+The cache is large: each entry is a checkout with its dependencies installed. Measured on
+2026-10-14, per pack: ai 2.1 GB, lucide-react 3.6, next 1.4, react 4.3, @sentry/browser 0.7,
+@sentry/nextjs 4.3, @sentry/react 1.4, stripe 2.1, vitest 2.1, zod 2.2. Every pack at once is
+about 24 GB, more than the 14 GB of disk a standard GitHub-hosted Linux runner documents, and
+it grows with each pack. Keep it bounded the same way locally and on a runner: score one pack
+at a time and evict its repositories before the next (`rm -rf
+"$UPTIDE_GROUND_TRUTH_CACHE/<owner>__<repo>@<commit>"`, one directory per `ground-truth.json`
+entry), so the cache holds at most one pack's ground truth, under 5 GB today. Registry
+tarballs, kept beside it in `~/.cache/uptide`, add about 1 GB.
+
 ## Scoring: `uptide pack test`
 
 ```sh
diff --git a/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.test.ts b/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.test.ts
index 6925019..0735423 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.test.ts
@@ -119,6 +119,105 @@ describe('Signal B: compile against the target version', () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it('does not report a pre-existing error as new because the upgrade rewords it', async () => {
+    // `Mode` widens in v2: the same broken assignment, at the same place, names one more
+    // member. It was broken before the upgrade, and the upgrade did not break it.
+    const dir = consumerCopy((d) =>
+      writeFileSync(
+        join(d, 'src/mode.ts'),
+        "import type { Mode } from 'synthetic';\nexport const pick = (m: Mode): 'loose' => m;\n",
+      ),
+    );
+    const signal = await compileAgainstTarget({ dir }, 'synthetic', join(ROOT, 'synthetic-v2'));
+    expect(signal.baselineErrors).toBe(1);
+    expect(signal.diagnostics.map((d) => `${d.file}:${d.line} ${d.code}`)).toEqual([
+      'src/chains.ts:6 2554',
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('reports a different reason at the place of a pre-existing error', async () => {
+    // `shapes` 2 requires one more property: the literal that already missed `a` and `b` now
+    // misses `c` too. Same file, code and position as the baseline error, and a new break.
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'uptide-same-place-'));
+    const release = (version: string, props: string): string => {
+      const pkg = join(root, 'shapes', version);
+      mkdirSync(pkg, { recursive: true });
+      writeFileSync(
+        join(pkg, 'package.json'),
+        JSON.stringify({ name: 'shapes', version, types: 'index.d.ts' }),
+      );
+      writeFileSync(join(pkg, 'index.d.ts'), `export interface Opts { ${props} }\n`);
+      return pkg;
+    };
+    release('1.0.0', 'a: string; b: string;');
+    const target = release('2.0.0', 'a: string; b: string; c: string;');
+    const dir = join(root, 'repo');
+    mkdirSync(join(dir, 'src'), { recursive: true });
+    cpSync(join(root, 'shapes', '1.0.0'), join(dir, 'node_modules/shapes'), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'package.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({ name: 'repo', dependencies: { shapes: '1.0.0' } }),
+    );
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'tsconfig.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        compilerOptions: { strict: true, noEmit: true, skipLibCheck: true, types: [] },
+        include: ['src'],
+      }),
+    );
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'src/index.ts'),
+      "import type { Opts } from 'shapes';\nexport const opts: Opts = {};\n",
+    );
+    const signal = await compileAgainstTarget({ dir }, 'shapes', target);
+    expect(signal.baselineErrors).toBe(1);
+    expect(signal.diagnostics.map((d) => `${d.file}:${d.line} ${d.code} ${d.message}`)).toEqual([
+      "src/index.ts:2 2739 Type '{}' is missing the following properties from type 'Opts': a, b, c",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('reports a new error at the place of a pre-existing one that ends on the same reason', async () => {
+    // `opts` already breaks on property `a`; `shapes` 2 breaks `b` too and checks it first. Same
+    // file, code, position and last message (`Type 'string' is not assignable to type 'number'`),
+    // about another property: a new break, which only the property the chain names tells apart.
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'uptide-same-reason-'));
+    const release = (version: string, props: string): string => {
+      const pkg = join(root, 'shapes', version);
+      mkdirSync(pkg, { recursive: true });
+      writeFileSync(
+        join(pkg, 'package.json'),
+        JSON.stringify({ name: 'shapes', version, types: 'index.d.ts' }),
+      );
+      writeFileSync(join(pkg, 'index.d.ts'), `export interface Opts { ${props} }\n`);
+      return pkg;
+    };
+    release('1.0.0', 'a: number; b: string;');
+    const target = release('2.0.0', 'b: number; a: number;');
+    const dir = join(root, 'repo');
+    mkdirSync(join(dir, 'src'), { recursive: true });
+    cpSync(join(root, 'shapes', '1.0.0'), join(dir, 'node_modules/shapes'), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'package.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({ name: 'repo', dependencies: { shapes: '1.0.0' } }),
+    );
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'tsconfig.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        compilerOptions: { strict: true, noEmit: true, skipLibCheck: true, types: [] },
+        include: ['src'],
+      }),
+    );
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(dir, 'src/index.ts'),
+      "import type { Opts } from 'shapes';\nconst value = { a: 'x', b: 'y' };\nexport const opts: Opts = value;\n",
+    );
+    const signal = await compileAgainstTarget({ dir }, 'shapes', target);
+    expect(signal.baselineErrors).toBe(1);
+    expect(signal.diagnostics.map((d) => `${d.file}:${d.line} ${d.code} ${d.message}`)).toEqual([
+      expect.stringMatching(/^src\/index\.ts:3 2322 .*Types of property 'b' are incompatible/s),
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it('scopes both baseline and target roots, following imports without loading unrelated files', async () => {
     const dir = consumerCopy((d) => {
       writeFileSync(join(d, 'src/root.ts'), "import './chains';\n");
diff --git a/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.ts b/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.ts
index 3f79502..7f65a9d 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/adapters/typescript/compile.ts
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@ import { resolvePackageDir } from './usages.js';
  * here", not "because `items[].quantity` was removed".
  *
  * Both checks always run. Only diagnostics present in the overlay and absent from the
- * baseline count (matched on file, code and message; positions are not part of the key),
- * so a repository with pre-existing errors still gets the upgrade's errors. The overlay
+ * baseline count (matched on file, code and message, so a moved line still matches; or on
+ * file, code, position and the same chain of messages up to the types it prints, so an error
+ * the upgrade only rewords still matches), so a repository with pre-existing errors still gets the upgrade's
+ * errors. The overlay
  * is skipped only when the baseline is structurally broken: an invalid tsconfig, or most
  * files failing to resolve their imports.
  *
@@ -104,6 +106,39 @@ function keyOf(d: ts.Diagnostic, repoDir: string): string {
   return `${file}|${d.code}|${messageOf(d).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()}`;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Every message of the chain, in order, with each type the compiler prints masked: what the
+ * error says about the code, without how it spells the types on the way. A quoted plain name
+ * (a property, a parameter, a named type) is kept, so the chain still says which member fails;
+ * a printed type expression (`'{ a: string; }'`, `'() => void'`) is what an upgrade rewords.
+ */
+function shapeOf(d: ts.Diagnostic): string {
+  const parts: string[] = [];
+  const walk = (chain: string | ts.DiagnosticMessageChain): void => {
+    const text = typeof chain === 'string' ? chain : chain.messageText;
+    parts.push(
+      text.replace(/'([^']*)'/g, (quoted, inner: string) =>
+        /^[\w$.#"-]+$/.test(inner) ? quoted : "'…'",
+      ),
+    );
+    if (typeof chain !== 'string') for (const next of chain.next ?? []) walk(next);
+  };
+  walk(d.messageText);
+  return parts.join(' ').replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
+}
+
+/**
+ * The same error at the same place: both programs check the same source text, so a position
+ * names one construct, and the same chain of messages with only printed types differing is the
+ * same complaint about it. An error the upgrade only rewords (a widened type in the elaborated
+ * assignment) was there before the upgrade, and the upgrade did not break that line. A chain
+ * that names another member, or another reason, at the same place is a different error, and is
+ * reported.
+ */
+function placeOf(d: ts.Diagnostic, repoDir: string): string {
+  return `${relative(repoDir, d.file?.fileName ?? '')}|${d.code}|${d.start ?? -1}|${shapeOf(d)}`;
+}
+
 function toDiagnostic(d: ts.Diagnostic, file: ts.SourceFile, repoDir: string): CompileDiagnostic {
   const start = d.start ?? 0;
   const from = file.getLineAndCharacterOfPosition(start);
@@ -879,6 +914,7 @@ export async function compileAgainstTargets(
     };
   }
   const known = new Set(baseline.map((d) => keyOf(d, repo.dir)));
+  const knownPlaces = new Set(baseline.map((d) => placeOf(d, repo.dir)));
   const overlay = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'uptide-overlay-'));
   const deps = newLinks();
   // Group members are already linked; nothing may fetch another version of them.
@@ -899,7 +935,12 @@ export async function compileAgainstTargets(
       const overlaid = program.getSourceFile(file.fileName);
       if (!overlaid) continue;
       for (const d of program.getSemanticDiagnostics(overlaid)) {
-        if (isRepoError(d, repo.dir) && !known.has(keyOf(d, repo.dir))) fresh.push({ d, overlaid });
+        if (
+          isRepoError(d, repo.dir) &&
+          !known.has(keyOf(d, repo.dir)) &&
+          !knownPlaces.has(placeOf(d, repo.dir))
+        )
+          fresh.push({ d, overlaid });
       }
     }
     // Causes are traced once every new diagnostic is known: a declaration that fails itself is a cause.