retarvsrezaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,304
“retar” frequency rank
#9,889
“reza” frequency rank
47193
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retar reza
Definition Dicho de un noble: acusar ante el rey a otro noble de alevosía, quedando obligado el primero a mantener la denuncia en buena lid. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de rezar.

Where the eye mixes retar and reza

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. retar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against reza's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
retar
4 ch
reza

Why the eye confuses retar with reza

A purely visual mix-up. retar ([reˈt̪aɾ]) and reza ([ˈresa]) 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 47193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retar is recorded at frequency rank #37,304, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈt̪aɾ]. reza is at rank #9,889, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈresa].

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 47193, this pair ranks #121,421 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retar vs reza

Shared letters: aer. Private to "retar": t. Private to "reza": z.

"retar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "reza" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retar ← ertar · reatr · retarr · retra · rettar · rretar · rtear
  • reza ← erza · reaz · rezza · rreza · rzea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "retar" for "reza" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈt̪aɾ] versus [ˈresa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "retar" or "reza" show up more?
"reza" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,889 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,421 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retar" and "reza" 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 #121,421 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