receptionvsredemptionConfusable pair

Which to use

“reception” and “redemption” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,885
“reception” frequency rank
#9,389
“redemption” frequency rank
14274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reception redemption
Definition The act of receiving. The act of redeeming or something redeemed.

Where the eye mixes reception and redemption

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
reception
10 ch
redemption

Visual trap between reception and redemption

A purely visual mix-up. reception (/ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/) and redemption (/ɹɪˈdɛmpʃən/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14274, 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/. redemption is at rank #9,389, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈdɛmpʃən/.

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 14274, this pair ranks #471,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reception vs redemption

Shared letters: einoprt. Private to "reception": c. Private to "redemption": dm.

"reception" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "redemption" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receptionerception · rceeption · recception · recepiton · recepption · recepsion · receptino · receptionn
  • redemptionerdemption · rdeemption · reddemption · redemmption · redempiton · redempption · redempsion · redemptino

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reception" for "redemption" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/ versus /ɹɪˈdɛmpʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reception" vs "redemption" - which ranks higher?
"reception" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,885 in our English list, against #9,389 for "redemption". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "reception" and "redemption" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "redemption" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #471,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reception" and "redemption" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reception vs resection". 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 #471,013 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list