Which to use
“recession” and “recursion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,977
- “recession” frequency rank
- #44,443
- “recursion” frequency rank
- 53420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recession | recursion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act or an instance of receding or withdrawing. | The act of recurring. |
Where the eye mixes recession and recursion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between recession and recursion
A purely visual mix-up. recession (/ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/) and recursion (/ɹɪˈkɜː(ɹ)ʒən/) 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 53420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recession is recorded at frequency rank #8,977, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/. recursion is at rank #44,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈkɜː(ɹ)ʒən/.
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 53420, this pair ranks #149,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recession vs recursion
Shared letters: ceinors. Private to "recession": -. Private to "recursion": u.
"recession" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "recursion" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recession" and "recursion" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "recession" vs "recursion" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recession" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recursion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recession" and "recursion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recursion 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 #149,152 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.