Which to use
“recon” and “record” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,327
- “recon” frequency rank
- #625
- “record” frequency rank
- 21952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recon | record |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | reconnaissance. | An item of information put into a temporary or permanent physical medium. |
Where the eye mixes recon and record
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between recon and record
A purely visual mix-up. recon (/ɹɪˈkɒn/) and record (/ˈɹɛk.ɔːd/) 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 21952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recon is recorded at frequency rank #21,327, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈkɒn/. record is at rank #625, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛk.ɔːd/.
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 21952, this pair ranks #420,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recon vs record
Shared letters: ceor. Private to "recon": n. Private to "record": d.
"recon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "record" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recon" and "record" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "recon" vs "record" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "recon" and "record" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "record" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recon" and "record" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recon vs recur". 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 #420,152 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.