receptionvsresectionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,885
“reception” frequency rank
#37,658
“resection” frequency rank
42543
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reception resection
Definition The act of receiving. The surgical removal of part or all of a tissue, organ, tumor, or body part.

Letter map: reception vs resection

Shared letters muted; letters that set reception and resection apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

9 ch
reception
9 ch
resection

Pair insight - reception / resection

reception and resection are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42543, 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/. resection is at rank #37,658, tagged as anoun.

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 42543, this pair ranks #248,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reception vs resection

Shared letters: ceinort. Private to "reception": p. Private to "resection": s.

"reception" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "resection" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receptionerception · rceeption · recception · recepiton · recepption · recepsion · receptino · receptionn
  • resectionersection · reesction · rescetion · resecction · reseciton · resecsion · resectino · resectionn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reception" and "resection" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "reception" vs "resection" - which ranks higher?
"reception" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,885 in our English list, against #37,658 for "resection". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "reception" and "resection".

  • Full dictionary entry for "reception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "resection" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reception" and "resection" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reelection 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 #248,236 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