reíanvsrestanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,823
“reían” frequency rank
#27,764
“restan” frequency rank
57587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reían restan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de reír o de reírse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de restar.

Where the eye mixes reían and restan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reían runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against restan's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
reían
6 ch
restan

Visual trap between reían and restan

A purely visual mix-up. reían ([reˈiãn]) and restan ([ˈrest̪ãn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reían is recorded at frequency rank #29,823, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈiãn]. restan is at rank #27,764, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈrest̪ãn].

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 57587, this pair ranks #69,898 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reían vs restan

Shared letters: aenr. Private to "reían": í. Private to "restan": st.

"reían" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "restan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • restan ← erstan · resatn · resstan · restann · restna · resttan · retsan · rrestan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reían" and "restan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([reˈiãn] versus [ˈrest̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reían" or "restan"?
"restan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,764 in our Spanish list, against #29,823 for "reían". 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 "reían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "restan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,898 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reían" and "restan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reían vs rias". 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 #69,898 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