recevsríeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,335
“rece” frequency rank
#10,215
“ríe” frequency rank
48550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rece ríe
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de rezar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de reír o de reírse.

Where the eye mixes rece and ríe

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

4 ch
rece
3 ch
ríe

Why the eye confuses rece with ríe

A purely visual mix-up. rece ([ˈrese]) and ríe ([ˈrie]) 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 48550, 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]. ríe is at rank #10,215, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈrie].

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 48550, this pair ranks #113,859 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rece vs ríe

Shared letters: er. Private to "rece": c. Private to "ríe": í.

"rece" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ríe" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receerce · recce · reec · rese · rrece

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rece" for "ríe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrese] versus [ˈrie]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "rece" or "ríe" show up more?
"ríe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,215 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "rece" and "ríe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ríe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,859 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rece" and "ríe" 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 #113,859 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