receptive
/ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/
"receptive" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“receptive” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,183 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #19,183
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Capable of receiving something.
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 | receptive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #19,183 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “receptive” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for receptive is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,183 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for receptive, with forms such as "erceptive", "rceeptive", and "recceptive". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "recessive", "receive", "reception", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been r… The correct English form is receptive, spelled R-E-C-E-P-T-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1Capable of receiving something.
- 2Ready to receive something, especially new concepts or ideas.
- 3Of a female flower or gynoecium: ready for reproduction; fertile.
- 4Of, affecting, or pertaining to the understanding of language rather than its expression.
- 5Of a female animal (especially a mammal): prepared to mate; in heat, in oestrus.
Etymology
From Late Middle English receptive, receptyue (“capable of receiving something; acting as a receptacle”), borrowed from Medieval Latin receptivus (“capable of receiving something”), from Latin receptus (“retaken, having been retaken; received, having been received”) + -īvus (suffix added to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming a deverbal adjective meaning ‘doing; related to doing’). Receptus is the perfect passive participle of recipiō (“to regain possession, take back; to recapture; to receive; to accept, undertake”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards; again’) + capiō (“to capture, catch, take; to take hold, take possession; to take on; to contain, hold; to occupy; to possess; to receive, take in; to comprehend, understand; to captivate, charm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold; to seize”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erceptive,rceeptive,recceptive,recepitve,recepptive,receptiev,receptivve,recepttive,receptvie,recetpive,recpetive,reecptive,rreceptive
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of receptive - 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 “receptive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-E-P-T-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “recessive” - see the side-by-side comparison. receptive vs recessive
- 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.