rezagovsrezanTell them apart

Quick tell: rezago is a noun, rezan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rezago” is a noun and “rezan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,521
“rezago” frequency rank
#34,759
“rezan” frequency rank
75280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rezago rezan
Definition Acción o efecto de rezagar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de rezar.

Where the eye mixes rezago and rezan

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

6 ch
rezago
5 ch
rezan

Visual trap between rezago and rezan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rezago is [reˈsaɣ̞o] while rezan is [ˈresãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rezago is recorded at frequency rank #40,521, classified as anoun, pronounced [reˈsaɣ̞o]. rezan is at rank #34,759, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈresãn].

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 75280, this pair ranks #19,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rezago vs rezan

Shared letters: aerz. Private to "rezago": go. Private to "rezan": n.

"rezago" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "rezan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rezago ← erzago · reazgo · rezaggo · rezaog · rezgao · rezzago · rrezago · rzeago
  • rezan ← erzan · reazn · rezann · rezna · rezzan · rrezan · rzean

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rezago" and "rezan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rezago" is a noun and "rezan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rezago" or "rezan"?
"rezan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,759 in our Spanish list, against #40,521 for "rezago". 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 "rezago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rezan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rezago" and "rezan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rengo vs rezago". 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 #19,863 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