receiptvsreceiveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: receipt is a noun, receive is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“receipt” is a noun and “receive” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,079
“receipt” frequency rank
#1,496
“receive” frequency rank
9575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature receipt receive
Definition The act of receiving, or the fact of having been received. To be given, sent, or paid something.

Where the eye mixes receipt and receive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
receipt
7 ch
receive

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: receipt is /ɹɪˈsiːt/ while receive is /ɹɪˈsiːv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

receipt is recorded at frequency rank #8,079, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːt/. receive is at rank #1,496, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːv/.

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 9575, this pair ranks #496,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of receipt vs receive

Shared letters: ceir. Private to "receipt": pt. Private to "receive": v.

"receipt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "receive" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receipterceipt · rceeipt · recceipt · receippt · receiptt · receitp · recepit · reciept
  • receiveerceive · rceeive · recceive · receiev · receivve · recevie · recieve · reecive

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "receipt" and "receive" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "receipt" is a noun and "receive" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "receipt" or "receive"?
"receive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,496 in our English list, against #8,079 for "receipt". 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