refutavsrefutarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,563
“refuta” frequency rank
#25,427
“refutar” frequency rank
70990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refuta refutar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de refutar. Contradecir o impugnar afirmaciones de alguien con razones y argumentos.

Where the eye mixes refuta and refutar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
refuta
7 ch
refutar

Look-alike desk: refuta vs refutar

A purely visual mix-up. refuta ([reˈfut̪a]) and refutar ([refuˈt̪aɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “refuta” sits inside “refutar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refuta is recorded at frequency rank #45,563, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈfut̪a]. refutar is at rank #25,427, tagged as averb, pronounced [refuˈt̪aɾ].

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 70990, this pair ranks #28,477 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refuta vs refutar

Shared letters: aefrtu. Private to "refuta": -. Private to "refutar": -.

"refuta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "refutar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refutaerfuta · reffuta · reftua · refuat · refutta · reufta · rfeuta · rrefuta
  • refutarerfutar · reffutar · reftuar · refuatr · refutarr · refutra · refuttar · reuftar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "refuta" for "refutar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈfut̪a] versus [refuˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "refuta" or "refutar" show up more?
"refutar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,427 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "refuta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refutar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,477 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refuta" and "refutar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebota vs refuta". 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 #28,477 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