remavsretomaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rema is a noun, retoma is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rema” is a noun and “retoma” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,570
“rema” frequency rank
#23,579
“retoma” frequency rank
69149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rema retoma
Definition 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. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de retomar.

Where the eye mixes rema and retoma

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

4 ch
rema
6 ch
retoma

Look-alike desk: rema vs retoma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rema is [ˈrema] while retoma is [reˈt̪oma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rema is recorded at frequency rank #45,570, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrema]. retoma is at rank #23,579, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪oma].

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 69149, this pair ranks #32,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rema vs retoma

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "rema": -. Private to "retoma": ot.

"rema" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "retoma" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rema ← erma · ream · remma · rmea · rrema
  • retoma ← ertoma · reotma · retmoa · retoam · retomma · rettoma · rretoma · rteoma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rema" and "retoma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rema" is a noun and "retoma" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rema" or "retoma"?
"retoma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,579 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rema" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retoma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rema" and "retoma" 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 #32,698 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