Which to use
“retar” and “rotar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,304
- “retar” frequency rank
- #39,443
- “rotar” frequency rank
- 76747
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retar | rotar |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Dicho de una pieza o un elemento, dar vueltas alrededor de su eje. |
Where the eye mixes retar and rotar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. retar and rotar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: retar vs rotar
A purely visual mix-up. retar ([reˈt̪aɾ]) and rotar ([roˈt̪aɾ]) 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 a single letter - e in “retar” becomes o in “rotar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76747, 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]. rotar is at rank #39,443, tagged as averb, pronounced [roˈt̪aɾ].
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 76747, this pair ranks #17,171 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of retar vs rotar
Shared letters: art. Private to "retar": e. Private to "rotar": o.
"retar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rotar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "retar" and "rotar" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "retar" vs "rotar" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "retar" and "rotar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,171 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retar" and "rotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rotar vs rozan". 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 #17,171 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.