Which to use
“recta” is a noun and “reía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,910
- “recta” frequency rank
- #18,073
- “reía” frequency rank
- 25983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recta | reía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entidad geométrica de una sola dimensión compuesta de un conjunto infinito de puntos, y que representa el camino más corto entre un punto y otro. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de reír o de reírse. |
Where the eye mixes recta and reía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: recta vs reía
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recta is [ˈrekt̪a] while reía is [reˈia]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recta is recorded at frequency rank #7,910, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrekt̪a]. reía is at rank #18,073, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈia].
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 25983, this pair ranks #233,878 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recta vs reía
Shared letters: aer. Private to "recta": ct. Private to "reía": í.
"recta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "reía" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- recta ← ercta · rceta · recat · reccta · rectta · retca · rrecta
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recta" for "reía" ever safe?
Which is more common, "recta" or "reía"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "recta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,878 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recta" and "reía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reía vs riba". 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 #233,878 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.