English homophones

rec/wreck

"wreck" (#7,638 written frequency) beats "rec" (#12,666) in this 2-word /ɹɛk/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Frequency splits the cluster

These 2 spellings keep the same /ɹɛk/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "wreck" leads at #7,638, with "rec" trailing at #12,666.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • No shared spelling stem: "rec" is 3 letters, "wreck" is 5; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across rec, wreck: cer. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • rec

    3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC

    Inventory cer · no private letters vs siblings

  • wreck

    5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVCC

    Inventory cekrw · private kw

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "rec" when you mean: Clipping of recreation.
  • Write "wreck" when you mean: Something or someone that has been ruined.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • wreckrweck · werck · wrcek · wrecck · wreckk · wrekc

Each spelling

rec

noun · /ɹɛk/ · #12,666 frequency

Clipping of recreation.

wreck

noun · /ˈɹɛk/ · #7,638 frequency

Something or someone that has been ruined.

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (rec, wreck). Here's where to go from here.

  • "wreck" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #7,638 in English). Full entry
  • Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
  • Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: rider · ryder. Nearby cluster
  • Each spelling in "rec, wreck" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list