rectovsreoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,058
“recto” frequency rank
#27,380
“reo” frequency rank
37438
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recto reo
Definition Que tiene la forma que sigue el camino más corto entre dos puntos, sin inclinarse, ni torcerse, ni cambiar de dirección. Acusado en juicio, especialmente el criminal.

Where the eye mixes recto and reo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
recto
3 ch
reo

Look-alike desk: recto vs reo

A purely visual mix-up. recto ([ˈrekt̪o]) and reo ([ˈreo]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37438, 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]. reo is at rank #27,380, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈreo].

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 37438, this pair ranks #175,298 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recto vs reo

Shared letters: eor. Private to "recto": ct. Private to "reo": -.

"recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "reo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rectoercto · rceto · reccto · recot · rectto · retco · rrecto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recto" and "reo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrekt̪o] versus [ˈreo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "recto" or "reo" show up more?
"recto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,058 in our Spanish list, against #27,380 for "reo". 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 "reo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #175,298 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recto" and "reo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rengo vs reo". 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 #175,298 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