REM vs rema, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#35,225
“REM” frequency rank: #45,570
“rema” frequency rank: 80795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	REM	rema
Definition	Fase del sueño durante la que suceden los ensueños más intensos. Durante esta fase, los ojos se mueven rápidamente y la actividad de las neuronas del cerebro se asemeja a la de cuando se está despierto.	En la gramática discursiva, parte de la oración que desarrolla el asunto al que el discurso ya hacía referencia, llamado por contraposición tema. En la mayoría de los casos coincide con la información nueva aportada por la oración o cláusula, y corresponde secuencialmente a la parte que sucede al tema.

Where the eye mixes REM and rema

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. REM runs 3 letters (CVC) against rema's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

REM

4 ch

rema

Look-alike desk: REM vs rema

A purely visual mix-up. REM ([ˈrẽm]) and rema ([ˈrema]) 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) - “REM” sits inside “rema”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

REM is recorded at frequency rank #35,225, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrẽm]. rema is at rank #45,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈrema].

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 80795, this pair ranks #11,224 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of REM vs rema

Shared letters: emr. Private to "REM": -. Private to "rema": a.

"REM" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "rema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

rema ← erma · ream · remma · rmea · rrema

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "REM" and "rema" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([ˈrẽm] versus [ˈrema]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Spanish text, does "REM" or "rema" show up more?

"REM" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,225 in our Spanish list, against #45,570 for "rema". 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 "REM" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "rema" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #11,224 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"REM" and "rema" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rema vs riba". 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 #11,224 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.