rebotavsretomaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“rebota” and “retoma” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,107
“rebota” frequency rank
#23,579
“retoma” frequency rank
65686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rebota retoma
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de rebotar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de retomar.

Where the eye mixes rebota and retoma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rebota and retoma follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
rebota
6 ch
retoma

Why the eye confuses rebota with retoma

A purely visual mix-up. rebota ([reˈβ̞ot̪a]) and retoma ([reˈt̪oma]) 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 65686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rebota is recorded at frequency rank #42,107, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈβ̞ot̪a]. retoma is at rank #23,579, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪oma].

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 65686, this pair ranks #41,916 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rebota vs retoma

Shared letters: aeort. Private to "rebota": b. Private to "retoma": m.

"rebota" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "retoma" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rebotaerbota · rbeota · rebbota · reboat · rebotta · rebtoa · reobta · revota
  • retomaertoma · reotma · retmoa · retoam · retomma · rettoma · rretoma · rteoma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rebota" for "retoma" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈβ̞ot̪a] versus [reˈt̪oma]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rebota" or "retoma"?
"retoma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,579 in our Spanish list, against #42,107 for "rebota". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "rebota" and "retoma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rebota" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retoma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,916 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rebota" and "retoma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebasa vs rebota". 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 #41,916 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list