retención

[ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]

/[ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“retención” has 14 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #10,568. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,568
frequency rank, Spanish
4,151
“R” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Acción o efecto de retener.

Corpus desk

Index ES-retencion · retención · Spanish

retención · rank #10,568 · 14 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,568
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Roque

Nearest frequency peer: Roque (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “retención”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “retención” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

retención vs retenciones
73% similar
retención vs recepción
78% similar
retención vs redención
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for retención
PropertyValue
Headwordretención
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]
Letters9
Frequency rank#10,568
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “retención”

Esta escala corre desde el núcleo del español cotidiano (izquierda) hasta el rastro de formas rara vez usadas (derecha).retencióncae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “Roque” (#10,569), “reproducir” (#10,566), “salones” (#10,570). Entre 4,151 lemas con “R”, “retención” va en #10,568. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around retención (IPA [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,568 among 4,151 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for retención, with forms such as "ertención", "reetnción", and "retecnión". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "retenciones", "recepción", "redención", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is retención, spelled R-E-T-E-N-C-I-Ó-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Acción o efecto de retener.
  2. 2
    Porción descontada de un pago o una propiedad.
  3. 3
    Circulación detenida o muy lenta en el tráfico de vehículos.
  4. 4
    Falta involuntaria de evacuación de líquidos y/o de heces en un organismo.
  5. 5
    Facultad para conservar y acceder a información almacenada en la mente.
  6. 6
    Infracción que se comete al retener la pelota sin permitir que el rival la quite.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how retención appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. no entiende sus dificultades académicas porque tiene buena retención de las tramas de las telenovelas y la vida cotidiana

Synonyms

retentiva

This word in other languages

retention(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ertención
  • reetnción
  • retecnión
  • retencción
  • retencinó
  • retenciónn
  • retencóin
  • retenicón
  • retennción
  • retensión
  • retneción
  • rettención
  • rretención
  • rteención

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retención - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ertención2reetnción2retecnión2retencción1retencinó2retenciónn1retencóin2retenicón2
Edit distance from "retención"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "retención"?
"retención" is spelled R-E-T-E-N-C-I-Ó-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn].
What does "retención" mean?
As a noun, "retención" means: Acción o efecto de retener.
What words are commonly confused with "retención"?
"retención" is commonly confused with "retenciones", "recepción", "redención". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "retención"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "retención" is [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "retención" come from?
"retención" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "retención", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

promovido#10,553previsión#10,551ordinaria#10,542nutrición#10,539

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

sanitarios14 variantsausteridad14 variantsBartolomé14 variantscambiemos14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list