Which to use
“receive” and “receives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,496
- “receive” frequency rank
- #5,257
- “receives” frequency rank
- 6753
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | receive | receives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be given, sent, or paid something. | third-person singular simple present indicative of receive |
Where the eye mixes receive and receives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. receive (/ɹɪˈsiːv/) and receives (/ɹɪˈsiːvz/) 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 “receives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6753, 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/. receives is at rank #5,257, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːvz/.
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 6753, this pair ranks #510,126 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of receive vs receives
Shared letters: ceirv. Private to "receive": -. Private to "receives": s.
"receive" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "receives" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC