retiradovsretomadoTell them apart

Quick tell: retirado is a adjective, retomado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“retirado” is an adjective and “retomado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,111
“retirado” frequency rank
#42,129
“retomado” frequency rank
48240
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retirado retomado
Definition Distante, apartado, desviado. Participio de retomar.

Where the eye mixes retirado and retomado

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

8 ch
retirado
8 ch
retomado

Visual trap between retirado and retomado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retirado is [ret̪iˈɾað̞o] while retomado is [ret̪oˈmað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retirado is recorded at frequency rank #6,111, classified as anadj, pronounced [ret̪iˈɾað̞o]. retomado is at rank #42,129, tagged as averb, pronounced [ret̪oˈmað̞o].

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 48240, this pair ranks #115,572 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retirado vs retomado

Shared letters: adeort. Private to "retirado": i. Private to "retomado": m.

"retirado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "retomado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retiradoertirado · reitrado · retiardo · retiraddo · retiraod · retirdao · retirrado · retriado
  • retomadoertomado · reotmado · retmoado · retoamdo · retomaddo · retomaod · retomdao · retommado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "retirado" and "retomado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retirado" is an adjective and "retomado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "retirado" or "retomado" show up more?
"retirado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,111 in our Spanish list, against #42,129 for "retomado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "retirado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retomado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,572 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retirado" and "retomado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retomado vs retoman". 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 #115,572 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