recibovsrectoConfusable pair

Quick tell: recibo is a noun, recto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“recibo” is a noun and “recto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,936
“recibo” frequency rank
#10,058
“recto” frequency rank
14994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibo recto
Definition Acción o efecto de recibir. Que tiene la forma que sigue el camino más corto entre dos puntos, sin inclinarse, ni torcerse, ni cambiar de dirección.

Where the eye mixes recibo and recto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
recibo
5 ch
recto

Look-alike desk: recibo vs recto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recibo is [reˈsiβ̞o] while recto is [ˈrekt̪o]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recibo is recorded at frequency rank #4,936, classified as anoun, pronounced [reˈsiβ̞o]. recto is at rank #10,058, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈrekt̪o].

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 14994, this pair ranks #281,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recibo vs recto

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "recibo": bi. Private to "recto": t.

"recibo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reciboercibo · rceibo · recbio · reccibo · recibbo · reciob · recivo · reicbo
  • rectoercto · rceto · reccto · recot · rectto · retco · rrecto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recibo" for "recto" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recibo" is a noun and "recto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "recibo" vs "recto" - which ranks higher?
"recibo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,936 in our Spanish list, against #10,058 for "recto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recibo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recibo" and "recto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recto vs rengo". 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 #281,905 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