receiovsrecheioWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,578
“receio” frequency rank
#18,690
“recheio” frequency rank
25268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature receio recheio
Definition medo aquilo que enche ou preenche algo

Where the eye mixes receio and recheio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
receio
7 ch
recheio

Visual trap between receio and recheio

A purely visual mix-up. receio (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.u/) and recheio (/Rɨ.ˈʃɐj.u/) 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 25268, 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/. recheio is at rank #18,690, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈʃɐj.u/.

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 25268, this pair ranks #44,083 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of receio vs recheio

Shared letters: ceior. Private to "receio": -. Private to "recheio": h.

"receio" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "recheio" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receioerceio · rceeio · recceio · receoi · recieo · reecio · rreceio
  • recheioercheio · rceheio · reccheio · recehio · recheoi · rechheio · rechieo · rehceio

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "receio" and "recheio" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.u/ versus /Rɨ.ˈʃɐj.u/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "receio" vs "recheio" - which ranks higher?
"receio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,578 in our Portuguese list, against #18,690 for "recheio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "receio" and "recheio" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "receio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recheio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,083 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "receio" and "recheio" 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 #44,083 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