Which to use
“receio” is a noun and “recent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,578
- “receio” frequency rank
- #32,339
- “recent” frequency rank
- 38917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | receio | recent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | medo | recente |
Where the eye mixes receio and recent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses receio with recent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: receio is /Rɨ.ˈsɐj.u/ while recent is rē'sənt, IPA: /ˈɹiːsənt/, X-SAMPA:/"r\i:s@nt/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38917, 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/. recent is at rank #32,339, tagged as anadj, pronounced rē'sənt, IPA: /ˈɹiːsənt/, X-SAMPA:/"r\i:s@nt/.
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 38917, this pair ranks #27,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of receio vs recent
Shared letters: cer. Private to "receio": io. Private to "recent": nt.
"receio" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "recent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "receio" and "recent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "receio" or "recent" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "receio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "receio" and "recent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recent vs relento". 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 #27,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.