recursovsreversoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,435
“recurso” frequency rank
#25,478
“reverso” frequency rank
28913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recurso reverso
Definition meios viáveis de se conseguir alcançar um dado objetivo o lado oposto ao lado principal ou àquele que primeiro se observa ou considera

Where the eye mixes recurso and reverso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recurso and reverso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
recurso
7 ch
reverso

Look-alike desk: recurso vs reverso

A purely visual mix-up. recurso (\xe.'kur.su\) and reverso (/Rɨ.ˈvɛɾ.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 28913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recurso is recorded at frequency rank #3,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \xe.'kur.su\. reverso is at rank #25,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈvɛɾ.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 28913, this pair ranks #39,847 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recurso vs reverso

Shared letters: eors. Private to "recurso": cu. Private to "reverso": v.

"recurso" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "reverso" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recurso ← ercurso · rceurso · reccurso · recruso · recuros · recurrso · recursso · recusro
  • reverso ← erverso · reevrso · reveros · reverrso · reversso · revesro · revreso · revverso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recurso" and "reverso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\xe.'kur.su\ versus /Rɨ.ˈvɛɾ.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recurso" or "reverso"?
"recurso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,435 in our Portuguese list, against #25,478 for "reverso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recurso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reverso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,847 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recurso" and "reverso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receoso vs reverso". 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 #39,847 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