recearvsrecitarTell them apart

Which to use

“recear” and “recitar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,052
“recear” frequency rank
#36,193
“recitar” frequency rank
81245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recear recitar
Definition temer dizer em voz alta e clara, lendo ou não

Where the eye mixes recear and recitar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recear runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against recitar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
recear
7 ch
recitar

Why the eye confuses recear with recitar

A purely visual mix-up. recear (/Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/) and recitar (/Rɨ.si.ˈtaɾ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recear is recorded at frequency rank #45,052, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/. recitar is at rank #36,193, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.si.ˈtaɾ/.

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 81245, this pair ranks #1,196 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recear vs recitar

Shared letters: acer. Private to "recear": -. Private to "recitar": it.

"recear" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "recitar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recear ← ercear · rceear · recaer · reccear · recearr · recera · reecar · rrecear
  • recitar ← ercitar · rceitar · reccitar · reciatr · recitarr · recitra · recittar · rectiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recear" and "recitar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.si.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recear" vs "recitar" - which ranks higher?
"recitar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,193 in our Portuguese list, against #45,052 for "recear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recitar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,196 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recear" and "recitar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recear vs renegar". 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 #1,196 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list