recordóvsretornoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,882
“recordó” frequency rank
#5,040
“retorno” frequency rank
10922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recordó retorno
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de recordar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de retornar.

Where the eye mixes recordó and retorno

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

7 ch
recordó
7 ch
retorno

Why the eye confuses recordó with retorno

A purely visual mix-up. recordó ([rekoɾˈð̞o]) and retorno ([reˈt̪oɾno]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recordó is recorded at frequency rank #5,882, classified as averb, pronounced [rekoɾˈð̞o]. retorno is at rank #5,040, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪oɾno].

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 10922, this pair ranks #296,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recordó vs retorno

Shared letters: eor. Private to "recordó": cdó. Private to "retorno": nt.

"recordó" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "retorno" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retorno ← ertorno · reotrno · retonro · retornno · retoron · retorrno · retrono · rettorno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recordó" for "retorno" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([rekoɾˈð̞o] versus [reˈt̪oɾno]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "recordó" or "retorno" show up more?
"retorno" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,040 in our Spanish list, against #5,882 for "recordó". 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 "recordó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retorno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recordó" and "retorno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retórico vs retorno". 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 #296,881 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