REMvsrestTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,225
“REM” frequency rank
#31,964
“rest” frequency rank
67189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature REM rest
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. Descanso, reposo.

Where the eye mixes REM and rest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
REM
4 ch
rest

Look-alike desk: REM vs rest

A purely visual mix-up. REM ([ˈrẽm]) and rest (/rɛst/) 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 67189, 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]. rest is at rank #31,964, tagged as anoun, pronounced /rɛst/.

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 67189, this pair ranks #37,803 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of REM vs rest

Shared letters: er. Private to "REM": m. Private to "rest": st.

"REM" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "rest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • resterst · resst · restt · rets · rrest · rset

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "REM" for "rest" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrẽm] versus /rɛst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "REM" or "rest"?
"rest" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,964 in our Spanish list, against #35,225 for "REM". 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 "REM" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,803 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "REM" and "rest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasta vs rest". 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 #37,803 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