retención
[ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]
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
- 48,955
- “R” headwords
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Acción o efecto de retener.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | retención |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #10,568 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retención” sits in Spanish frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 14 spelling variants around retención (IPA [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,568 among 48,955 “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
- 1Acción o efecto de retener.
- 2Porción descontada de un pago o una propiedad.
- 3Circulación detenida o muy lenta en el tráfico de vehículos.
- 4Falta involuntaria de evacuación de líquidos y/o de heces en un organismo.
- 5Facultad para conservar y acceder a información almacenada en la mente.
- 6Infracción que se comete al retener la pelota sin permitir que el rival la quite.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.
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"?
What does "retención" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "retención"?
How do you pronounce "retención"?
What language does "retención" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “retención”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is R-E-T-E-N-C-I-Ó-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ret̪ẽnˈsjõn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “retenciones” - see the side-by-side comparison. retención vs retenciones
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Same frequency band
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.