reportarvsretornarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,303
“reportar” frequency rank
#20,808
“retornar” frequency rank
32111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reportar retornar
Definition Contener, refrenar o reprimir. Volver una persona o una cosa al lugar o situación en que estaba antes.

Where the eye mixes reportar and retornar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. reportar and retornar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
reportar
8 ch
retornar

Visual trap between reportar and retornar

A purely visual mix-up. reportar ([repoɾˈt̪aɾ]) and retornar ([ret̪oɾˈnaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reportar is recorded at frequency rank #11,303, classified as averb, pronounced [repoɾˈt̪aɾ]. retornar is at rank #20,808, tagged as averb, pronounced [ret̪oɾˈnaɾ].

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 32111, this pair ranks #203,691 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reportar vs retornar

Shared letters: aeort. Private to "reportar": p. Private to "retornar": n.

"reportar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "retornar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reportar ← erportar · reoprtar · reporatr · reporrtar · reportarr · reportra · reporttar · repotrar
  • retornar ← ertornar · reotrnar · retonrar · retoranr · retornarr · retornnar · retornra · retorrnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reportar" and "retornar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([repoɾˈt̪aɾ] versus [ret̪oɾˈnaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "reportar" or "retornar" show up more?
"reportar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,303 in our Spanish list, against #20,808 for "retornar". 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 "reportar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retornar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,691 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reportar" and "retornar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retornar vs retornos". 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 #203,691 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