recent
/ˈɹiː.sənt/
"recent" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“recent” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #977 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #977
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having happened a short while ago.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | recent |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈɹiː.sənt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #977 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “recent” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for recent is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹiː.sənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #977 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for recent, with forms such as "ercent", "rceent", and "reccent". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "rent", "reset", "recon", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin recēns (genitive recentis). The correct English form is recent, spelled R-E-C-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Having happened a short while ago.
- 2Up-to-date; not old-fashioned or dated.
- 3Having done something a short while ago that distinguishes them as what they are called.
- 4Particularly in geology, palaeontology, and astronomy: having occurred a relatively short time ago, but still potentially thousands or even millions of years ago.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin recēns (genitive recentis).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ercent,rceent,reccent,recennt,recentt,recetn,recnet,reecnt,rrecent
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of recent - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “recent”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹiː.sənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “rent” - see the side-by-side comparison. recent vs rent
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.