Which to use
“reception” and “recession” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,885
- “reception” frequency rank
- #8,977
- “recession” frequency rank
- 13862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reception | recession |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of receiving. | The act or an instance of receding or withdrawing. |
Where the eye mixes reception and recession
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reception and recession follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses reception with recession
A purely visual mix-up. reception (/ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/) and recession (/ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reception is recorded at frequency rank #4,885, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/. recession is at rank #8,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/.
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 13862, this pair ranks #473,441 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reception vs recession
Shared letters: ceinor. Private to "reception": pt. Private to "recession": s.
"reception" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "recession" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "reception" and "recession" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "reception" or "recession"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "reception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recession" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #473,441 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reception" and "recession" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recession vs reversion". 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 #473,441 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.