reconvsredoneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: recon is a noun, redone is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“recon” is a noun and “redone” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,327
“recon” frequency rank
#34,666
“redone” frequency rank
55993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recon redone
Definition reconnaissance. past participle of redo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recon and redone apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
recon
6 ch
redone

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recon is /ɹɪˈkɒn/ while redone is /ɹiːˈdʌn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55993, 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/. redone is at rank #34,666, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹiːˈdʌn/.

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 55993, this pair ranks #129,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recon vs redone

Shared letters: enor. Private to "recon": c. Private to "redone": d.

"recon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "redone" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reconercon · rceon · reccon · recno · reconn · reocn · rrecon
  • redoneerdone · rdeone · reddone · rednoe · redoen · redonne · reodne · rredone

Frequency comparison

recon#21,327
redone#34,666

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recon" and "redone" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recon" is a noun and "redone" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "recon" or "redone"?
"recon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,327 in our English list, against #34,666 for "redone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering recon vs redone

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “recon”; for a verb, it's “redone”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “recon” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list