Which to use
“recess” is a noun and “reckless” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,396
- “recess” frequency rank
- #9,388
- “reckless” frequency rank
- 23784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recess | reckless |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A depressed, hollow, or indented space; also, a hole or opening. | Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash. |
Where the eye mixes recess and reckless
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between recess and reckless
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recess is /ɹɪˈsɛs/ while reckless is /ˈɹɛkləs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recess is recorded at frequency rank #14,396, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛs/. reckless is at rank #9,388, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹɛkləs/.
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 23784, this pair ranks #406,805 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recess vs reckless
Shared letters: cers. Private to "recess": -. Private to "reckless": kl.
"recess" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "reckless" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recess" for "reckless" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "recess" or "reckless" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recess" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reckless" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,805 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recess" and "reckless" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recess vs remiss". 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 #406,805 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.