receçãovsreduçãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#37,068
“receção” frequency rank
#2,394
“redução” frequency rank
39462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature receção redução
Definition vide recepção ato ou efeito de reduzir

Where the eye mixes receção and redução

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. receção and redução follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
receção
7 ch
redução

Visual trap between receção and redução

A purely visual mix-up. receção (/ʀəsɛˈsɐ̃w̃/) and redução (/Rɨ.du.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

receção is recorded at frequency rank #37,068, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʀəsɛˈsɐ̃w̃/. redução is at rank #2,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.du.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 39462, this pair ranks #26,775 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of receção vs redução

Shared letters: eorãç. Private to "receção": c. Private to "redução": du.

"receção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "redução" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "receção" for "redução" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ʀəsɛˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /Rɨ.du.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "receção" vs "redução" - which ranks higher?
"redução" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,394 in our Portuguese list, against #37,068 for "receção". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "receção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "redução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,775 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "receção" and "redução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receção vs receoso". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #26,775 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