recargavsrecreaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,065
“recarga” frequency rank
#28,541
“recrea” frequency rank
46606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recarga recrea
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recargar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recrear.

Where the eye mixes recarga and recrea

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recarga runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against recrea's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
recarga
6 ch
recrea

Why the eye confuses recarga with recrea

A purely visual mix-up. recarga ([reˈkaɾɣ̞a]) and recrea ([reˈkɾea]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recarga is recorded at frequency rank #18,065, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈkaɾɣ̞a]. recrea is at rank #28,541, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈkɾea].

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 46606, this pair ranks #124,769 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recarga vs recrea

Shared letters: acer. Private to "recarga": g. Private to "recrea": -.

"recarga" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "recrea" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recarga ← ercarga · rcearga · reacrga · recagra · recarag · recargga · recarrga · reccarga
  • recrea ← ercrea · rcerea · reccrea · recera · recrae · recrrea · rercea · rrecrea

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recarga" and "recrea" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([reˈkaɾɣ̞a] versus [reˈkɾea]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recarga" vs "recrea" - which ranks higher?
"recarga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,065 in our Spanish list, against #28,541 for "recrea". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recarga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recrea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #124,769 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recarga" and "recrea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recrea vs recreos". 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 #124,769 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