receitavsrecrutaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,283
“receita” frequency rank
#20,992
“recruta” frequency rank
24275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature receita recruta
Definition fórmula para a preparação de produtos culinários ou industriais; prescrição primeiro grau militar

Where the eye mixes receita and recruta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. receita (CVCVVCV) and recruta (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
receita
7 ch
recruta

Why the eye confuses receita with recruta

A purely visual mix-up. receita (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.tɐ/) and recruta (/Rɨ.ˈkɾu.tɐ/) 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 24275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

receita is recorded at frequency rank #3,283, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsɐj.tɐ/. recruta is at rank #20,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈkɾu.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 24275, this pair ranks #45,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of receita vs recruta

Shared letters: acert. Private to "receita": i. Private to "recruta": u.

"receita" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "recruta" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • receita ← erceita · rceeita · recceita · receiat · receitta · recetia · recieta · reecita
  • recruta ← ercruta · rceruta · reccruta · recrruta · recrtua · recruat · recrutta · recurta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "receita" for "recruta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈsɐj.tɐ/ versus /Rɨ.ˈkɾu.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "receita" vs "recruta" - which ranks higher?
"receita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,283 in our Portuguese list, against #20,992 for "recruta". 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 "receita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recruta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "receita" and "recruta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receita vs refeito". 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 #45,387 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