recentvsregenteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,339
“recent” frequency rank
#14,694
“regente” frequency rank
47033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recent regente
Definition recente que rege, governa, dirige

Where the eye mixes recent and regente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
recent
7 ch
regente

Why the eye confuses recent with regente

A purely visual mix-up. recent (rē'sənt, IPA: /ˈɹiːsənt/, X-SAMPA:/"r\i:s@nt/) and regente (/Rɨ.ˈʒẽ.tɨ/) 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 47033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recent is recorded at frequency rank #32,339, classified as anadj, pronounced rē'sənt, IPA: /ˈɹiːsənt/, X-SAMPA:/"r\i:s@nt/. regente is at rank #14,694, tagged as anadj, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈʒẽ.tɨ/.

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 47033, this pair ranks #18,258 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recent vs regente

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "recent": c. Private to "regente": g.

"recent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "regente" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recentercent · rceent · reccent · recennt · recentt · recetn · recnet · reecnt
  • regenteergente · reegnte · regenet · regennte · regentte · regetne · reggente · regnete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recent" and "regente" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (rē'sənt, IPA: /ˈɹiːsənt/, X-SAMPA:/"r\i:s@nt/ versus /Rɨ.ˈʒẽ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recent" or "regente"?
"regente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,694 in our Portuguese list, against #32,339 for "recent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "recent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,258 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recent" and "regente" 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 #18,258 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