recessovsrecursoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,861
“recesso” frequency rank
#3,435
“recurso” frequency rank
25296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recesso recurso
Definition local distante e isolado meios viáveis de se conseguir alcançar um dado objetivo

Where the eye mixes recesso and recurso

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

7 ch
recesso
7 ch
recurso

Why the eye confuses recesso with recurso

A purely visual mix-up. recesso (/Rɨ.ˈsɛ.su/) and recurso (\xe.'kur.su\) 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 25296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recesso is recorded at frequency rank #21,861, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsɛ.su/. recurso is at rank #3,435, tagged as anoun, pronounced \xe.'kur.su\.

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 25296, this pair ranks #44,050 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recesso vs recurso

Shared letters: ceors. Private to "recesso": -. Private to "recurso": u.

"recesso" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "recurso" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recessoercesso · rceesso · reccesso · receso · recesos · recseso · reecsso · rrecesso
  • recursoercurso · rceurso · reccurso · recruso · recuros · recurrso · recursso · recusro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recesso" and "recurso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈsɛ.su/ versus \xe.'kur.su\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recesso" vs "recurso" - which ranks higher?
"recurso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,435 in our Portuguese list, against #21,861 for "recesso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recesso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recurso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,050 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recesso" and "recurso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receoso vs recesso". 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 #44,050 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