rectovsrestaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,058
“recto” frequency rank
#10,415
“resta” frequency rank
20473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recto resta
Definition Que tiene la forma que sigue el camino más corto entre dos puntos, sin inclinarse, ni torcerse, ni cambiar de dirección. Residuo de alguna cantidad pecuniaria.

Where the eye mixes recto and resta

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

5 ch
recto
5 ch
resta

Visual trap between recto and resta

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recto is [ˈrekt̪o] while resta is [ˈrest̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20473, 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]. resta is at rank #10,415, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈrest̪a].

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 20473, this pair ranks #259,194 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recto vs resta

Shared letters: ert. Private to "recto": co. Private to "resta": as.

"recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "resta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rectoercto · rceto · reccto · recot · rectto · retco · rrecto
  • restaersta · resat · ressta · restta · retsa · rresta · rseta

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recto" and "resta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recto" is an adjective and "resta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "recto" vs "resta" - which ranks higher?
"recto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,058 in our Spanish list, against #10,415 for "resta". 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 "resta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,194 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recto" and "resta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasta vs resta". 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 #259,194 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