Which to use
“receio” and “receita” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,578
- “receio” frequency rank
- #3,283
- “receita” frequency rank
- 9861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | receio | receita |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | medo | fórmula para a preparação de produtos culinários ou industriais; prescrição |
Where the eye mixes receio and receita
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. receio runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against receita's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses receio with receita
A purely visual mix-up. receio (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.u/) and receita (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.tɐ/) 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 9861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
receio is recorded at frequency rank #6,578, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsɐj.u/. receita is at rank #3,283, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsɐj.tɐ/.
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 9861, this pair ranks #63,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of receio vs receita
Shared letters: ceir. Private to "receio": o. Private to "receita": at.
"receio" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "receita" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "receio" and "receita" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "receio" vs "receita" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "receio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "receita" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "receio" and "receita" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receio vs receoso". 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 #63,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.