rectovsrectosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,058
“recto” frequency rank
#28,908
“rectos” frequency rank
38966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recto rectos
Definition Que tiene la forma que sigue el camino más corto entre dos puntos, sin inclinarse, ni torcerse, ni cambiar de dirección. Forma del plural de recto.

Where the eye mixes recto and rectos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
recto
6 ch
rectos

Visual trap between recto and rectos

A purely visual mix-up. recto ([ˈrekt̪o]) and rectos ([ˈrekt̪os]) 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 extra letter(s) - “recto” sits inside “rectos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recto is recorded at frequency rank #10,058, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈrekt̪o]. rectos is at rank #28,908, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈrekt̪os].

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 38966, this pair ranks #167,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recto vs rectos

Shared letters: ceort. Private to "recto": -. Private to "rectos": s.

"recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "rectos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rectoercto · rceto · reccto · recot · rectto · retco · rrecto
  • rectoserctos · rcetos · recctos · recots · rectoss · rectso · recttos · retcos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recto" and "rectos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrekt̪o] versus [ˈrekt̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recto" vs "rectos" - which ranks higher?
"recto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,058 in our Spanish list, against #28,908 for "rectos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rectos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #167,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recto" and "rectos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recreos vs rectos". 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 #167,139 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