rehusóvsretuvoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,592
“rehusó” frequency rank
#29,819
“retuvo” frequency rank
56411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rehusó retuvo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de rehusar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de retener.

Where the eye mixes rehusó and retuvo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rehusó and retuvo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
rehusó
6 ch
retuvo

Why the eye confuses rehusó with retuvo

A purely visual mix-up. rehusó ([rewˈso]) and retuvo ([reˈt̪uβ̞o]) 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 56411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rehusó is recorded at frequency rank #26,592, classified as averb, pronounced [rewˈso]. retuvo is at rank #29,819, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪uβ̞o].

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 56411, this pair ranks #74,711 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rehusó vs retuvo

Shared letters: eru. Private to "rehusó": hsó. Private to "retuvo": otv.

"rehusó" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "retuvo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retuvoertuvo · rettuvo · retubo · retuov · retuvvo · retvuo · reutvo · rretuvo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rehusó" for "retuvo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([rewˈso] versus [reˈt̪uβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rehusó" or "retuvo"?
"rehusó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,592 in our Spanish list, against #29,819 for "retuvo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rehusó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retuvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,711 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rehusó" and "retuvo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "resumo vs retuvo". 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 #74,711 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