REM vs ru, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#35,225
“REM” frequency rank: #21,828
“ru” frequency rank: 57053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	REM	ru
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.	Calle.

Where the eye mixes REM and ru

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

REM

2 ch

Look-alike desk: REM vs ru

A purely visual mix-up. REM ([ˈrẽm]) and ru (/ˈryː/) 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 57053, 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]. ru is at rank #21,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈryː/.

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 57053, this pair ranks #72,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of REM vs ru

Shared letters: r. Private to "REM": em. Private to "ru": u.

"REM" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ru" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "REM" for "ru" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "REM" vs "ru" - which ranks higher?

"ru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,828 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "REM" and "ru" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "REM" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #72,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"REM" and "ru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "REM vs rema". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #72,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.