Which to use
“receive” and “received” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,496
- “receive” frequency rank
- #720
- “received” frequency rank
- 2216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | receive | received |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be given, sent, or paid something. | simple past and past participle of receive |
Where the eye mixes receive and received
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. receive (/ɹɪˈsiːv/) and received (/ɹɪˈsiːvd/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “receive” sits inside “received”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
receive is recorded at frequency rank #1,496, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːv/. received is at rank #720, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːvd/.
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 2216, this pair ranks #525,552 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of receive vs received
Shared letters: ceirv. Private to "receive": -. Private to "received": d.
"receive" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "received" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC