reposavsreposarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,967
“reposa” frequency rank
#28,142
“reposar” frequency rank
68109
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reposa reposar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de reposar o de reposarse. Descansar, dar intermisión a la fatiga o al trabajo.

Where the eye mixes reposa and reposar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
reposa
7 ch
reposar

Visual trap between reposa and reposar

A purely visual mix-up. reposa ([reˈposa]) and reposar ([repoˈsaɾ]) 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) - “reposa” sits inside “reposar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reposa is recorded at frequency rank #39,967, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈposa]. reposar is at rank #28,142, tagged as averb, pronounced [repoˈsaɾ].

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 68109, this pair ranks #35,359 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reposa vs reposar

Shared letters: aeoprs. Private to "reposa": -. Private to "reposar": -.

"reposa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "reposar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reposaerposa · reopsa · repoas · repossa · repposa · repsoa · rpeosa · rreposa
  • reposarerposar · reopsar · repoasr · reposarr · reposra · repossar · repposar · repsoar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reposa" for "reposar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈposa] versus [repoˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "reposa" or "reposar" show up more?
"reposar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,142 in our Spanish list, against #39,967 for "reposa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reposa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reposar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,359 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reposa" and "reposar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebasa vs reposa". 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 #35,359 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