recevsredWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rece is a verb, red is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rece” is a verb and “red” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,335
“rece” frequency rank
#697
“red” frequency rank
39032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rece red
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de rezar. Malla cosa que fue creada para unir o sostener algo.

Where the eye mixes rece and red

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rece
3 ch
red

Visual trap between rece and red

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rece is [ˈrese] while red is [ˈreð̞]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rece is recorded at frequency rank #38,335, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈrese]. red is at rank #697, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈreð̞].

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 39032, this pair ranks #166,744 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rece vs red

Shared letters: er. Private to "rece": c. Private to "red": d.

"rece" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "red" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receerce · recce · reec · rese · rrece

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rece" for "red" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rece" is a verb and "red" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rece" vs "red" - which ranks higher?
"red" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #697 in our Spanish list, against #38,335 for "rece". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "red" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,744 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rece" and "red" 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 #166,744 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