It’s usually called the chorus: the section where the music and lyrics return. If you mean just a short repeated line, refrain may be more precise.
Chorus, refrain, or hook?
The terms describe different things, though everyday usage sometimes overlaps. The Open University’s OpenLearn glossary defines a chorus as “a section of a song in which both music and text are repeated.” In a typical verse-and-chorus song, the verse often returns with similar music but different words, while the chorus brings back its familiar material. The Open University, OpenLearn glossary, “Listening for form in popular music”
- Chorus: a distinct section that comes back, often with recurring lyrics and music.
- Refrain: commonly a shorter repeated line or phrase, such as one at the end of a verse. Some sources also use “refrain” more broadly for a repeated chorus, so this distinction is a helpful convention, not a universal rule. AQA subject-specific vocabulary Christopher Endrinal, “Defining the Interverse: A Functional Approach to Song Form Analysis,” Music Theory Online (2011)
- Hook: the especially memorable lyric or musical idea. It may be in the chorus, but it does not have to be a whole section or occur in one particular place. Skidmore College Department of Music, “Song Form”
What if the repeated part is instrumental?
A repeating instrumental passage may be called a loop. A short musical figure repeated continually is also called an ostinato, especially when discussing musical form or technique. These names describe the repeated pattern rather than a song section with returning lyrics. The Open University, OpenLearn glossary, “Listening for form in popular music”
How fixed are these terms?
There is no single terminology system used by every musician or source. AQA describes the pop chorus as a repeated refrain in verse-chorus form, while Endrinal’s more detailed analysis distinguishes a refrain as a shorter unit from an independent chorus section. In Endrinal’s study of 137 songs, 21 (15.3%) incorporated refrains; four of those 21 used both a refrain and a chorus. Those figures describe that study’s sample, not all songs. AQA subject-specific vocabulary Christopher Endrinal, “Defining the Interverse: A Functional Approach to Song Form Analysis,” Music Theory Online (2011)
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