recitavsrefutaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,582
“recita” frequency rank
#45,563
“refuta” frequency rank
87145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recita refuta
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recitar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de refutar.

Where the eye mixes recita and refuta

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

6 ch
recita
6 ch
refuta

Visual trap between recita and refuta

A purely visual mix-up. recita ([reˈsit̪a]) and refuta ([reˈfut̪a]) 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 87145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recita is recorded at frequency rank #41,582, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈsit̪a]. refuta is at rank #45,563, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈfut̪a].

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 87145, this pair ranks #4,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recita vs refuta

Shared letters: aert. Private to "recita": ci. Private to "refuta": fu.

"recita" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "refuta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recita ← ercita · rceita · reccita · reciat · recitta · rectia · reicta · resita
  • refuta ← erfuta · reffuta · reftua · refuat · refutta · reufta · rfeuta · rrefuta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recita" for "refuta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈsit̪a] versus [reˈfut̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recita" or "refuta"?
"recita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,582 in our Spanish list, against #45,563 for "refuta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refuta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recita" and "refuta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recicla vs recita". 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 #4,720 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