Which to use
“recede” is a verb and “reedy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,339
- “recede” frequency rank
- #49,584
- “reedy” frequency rank
- 90923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recede | reedy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To move back; to retreat; to withdraw. | Full of, or edged with, reeds. |
Where the eye mixes recede and reedy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recede runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against reedy's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between recede and reedy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recede is /ɹɪˈsiːd/ while reedy is /ˈɹiː.di/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recede is recorded at frequency rank #41,339, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːd/. reedy is at rank #49,584, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹiː.di/.
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 90923, this pair ranks #3,749 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recede vs reedy
Shared letters: der. Private to "recede": c. Private to "reedy": y.
"recede" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "reedy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recede" and "reedy" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "recede" or "reedy" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "recede" and "reedy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reedy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,749 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recede" and "reedy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reedy vs retry". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #3,749 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.