recibosvsrecreosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,701
“recibos” frequency rank
#49,890
“recreos” frequency rank
65591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recibos recreos
Definition Forma del plural de recibo. Forma del plural de recreo.

Where the eye mixes recibos and recreos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recibos (CVCVCVC) and recreos (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
recibos
7 ch
recreos

Why the eye confuses recibos with recreos

A purely visual mix-up. recibos ([reˈsiβ̞os]) and recreos ([reˈkɾeos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recibos is recorded at frequency rank #15,701, classified as anoun, pronounced [reˈsiβ̞os]. recreos is at rank #49,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced [reˈkɾeos].

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 65591, this pair ranks #42,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recibos vs recreos

Shared letters: ceors. Private to "recibos": bi. Private to "recreos": -.

"recibos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "recreos" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recibosercibos · rceibos · recbios · reccibos · recibbos · reciboss · recibso · reciobs
  • recreosercreos · rcereos · reccreos · receros · recreoss · recreso · recroes · recrreos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recibos" and "recreos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsiβ̞os] versus [reˈkɾeos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "recibos" or "recreos" show up more?
"recibos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,701 in our Spanish list, against #49,890 for "recreos". 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 "recibos" and "recreos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recibos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recreos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recibos" and "recreos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recados 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 #42,198 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