recvsrezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“rec” and “rez” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,666
“rec” frequency rank
#45,052
“rez” frequency rank
57718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rec rez
Definition Clipping of recreation. Clipping of reservation or reserve (semiautonomous Indigenous territory).

Where the eye mixes rec and rez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
rec
3 ch
rez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rec (/ɹɛk/) and rez (/ɹɛz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “rec” becomes z in “rez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rec is recorded at frequency rank #12,666, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɛk/. rez is at rank #45,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɛz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 57718, this pair ranks #117,508 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rec vs rez

Shared letters: er. Private to "rec": c. Private to "rez": z.

"rec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "rez" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rec" and "rez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɛk/ versus /ɹɛz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rec" or "rez"?
"rec" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,666 in our English list, against #45,052 for "rez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list