recaervsreceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“recaer” and “rece” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,951
“recaer” frequency rank
#38,335
“rece” frequency rank
70286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recaer rece
Definition Caer nuevamente. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de rezar.

Where the eye mixes recaer and rece

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recaer runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against rece's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
recaer
4 ch
rece

Look-alike desk: recaer vs rece

A purely visual mix-up. recaer ([rekaˈeɾ]) and rece ([ˈrese]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recaer is recorded at frequency rank #31,951, classified as averb, pronounced [rekaˈeɾ]. rece is at rank #38,335, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈrese].

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 70286, this pair ranks #30,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recaer vs rece

Shared letters: cer. Private to "recaer": a. Private to "rece": -.

"recaer" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "rece" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recaer ← ercaer · rceaer · reacer · recaerr · recare · reccaer · recear · rrecaer
  • rece ← erce · recce · reec · rese · rrece

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recaer" for "rece" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([rekaˈeɾ] versus [ˈrese]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "recaer" or "rece" show up more?
"recaer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,951 in our Spanish list, against #38,335 for "rece". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recaer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rece" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recaer" and "rece" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rece vs ríete". 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 #30,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list