restanvsretarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,764
“restan” frequency rank
#37,304
“retar” frequency rank
65068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature restan retar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de restar. Dicho de un noble: acusar ante el rey a otro noble de alevosía, quedando obligado el primero a mantener la denuncia en buena lid.

Where the eye mixes restan and retar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. restan runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against retar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
restan
5 ch
retar

Visual trap between restan and retar

A purely visual mix-up. restan ([ˈrest̪ãn]) and retar ([reˈt̪aɾ]) 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 65068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

restan is recorded at frequency rank #27,764, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈrest̪ãn]. retar is at rank #37,304, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪aɾ].

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 65068, this pair ranks #43,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of restan vs retar

Shared letters: aert. Private to "restan": ns. Private to "retar": -.

"restan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "retar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • restan ← erstan · resatn · resstan · restann · restna · resttan · retsan · rrestan
  • retar ← ertar · reatr · retarr · retra · rettar · rretar · rtear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "restan" for "retar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrest̪ãn] versus [reˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "restan" or "retar" show up more?
"restan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,764 in our Spanish list, against #37,304 for "retar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "restan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "restan" and "retar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "renard vs retar". 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 #43,722 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