Which to use
“record” and “recorder” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #625
- “record” frequency rank
- #11,096
- “recorder” frequency rank
- 11721
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | record | recorder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An item of information put into a temporary or permanent physical medium. | An apparatus for recording; a device which records. |
Where the eye mixes record and recorder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses record with recorder
A purely visual mix-up. record (/ˈɹɛk.ɔːd/) and recorder (/ɹiˈkɔː.də/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “record” sits inside “recorder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
record is recorded at frequency rank #625, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛk.ɔːd/. recorder is at rank #11,096, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹiˈkɔː.də/.
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 11721, this pair ranks #485,480 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of record vs recorder
Shared letters: cdeor. Private to "record": -. Private to "recorder": -.
"record" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "recorder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "record" and "recorder" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "record" or "recorder" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "record" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recorder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,480 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "record" and "recorder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "record 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 #485,480 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.