regarvsrotarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,429
“regar” frequency rank
#39,443
“rotar” frequency rank
64872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regar rotar
Definition Llevar el agua a la tierra que cubre las plantas, a los sembradíos y a las plantas mismas. Dicho de una pieza o un elemento, dar vueltas alrededor de su eje.

Where the eye mixes regar and rotar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
regar
5 ch
rotar

Visual trap between regar and rotar

A purely visual mix-up. regar ([reˈɣ̞aɾ]) and rotar ([roˈt̪aɾ]) 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 64872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regar is recorded at frequency rank #25,429, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈɣ̞aɾ]. rotar is at rank #39,443, tagged as averb, pronounced [roˈt̪aɾ].

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 64872, this pair ranks #44,304 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of regar vs rotar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "regar": eg. Private to "rotar": ot.

"regar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rotar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regarergar · reagr · regarr · reggar · regra · rgear · rregar
  • rotarortar · roatr · rotarr · rotra · rottar · rrotar · rtoar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "regar" and "rotar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([reˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [roˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "regar" or "rotar" show up more?
"regar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,429 in our Spanish list, against #39,443 for "rotar". 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 "regar" and "rotar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "regar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,304 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regar" and "rotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rotar vs rozan". 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 #44,304 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