rotarvsrotosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rotar is a verb, rotos is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rotar” is a verb and “rotos” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,443
“rotar” frequency rank
#10,418
“rotos” frequency rank
49861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rotar rotos
Definition Dicho de una pieza o un elemento, dar vueltas alrededor de su eje. Forma del plural de roto, participio de romper.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rotar and rotos apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
rotar
5 ch
rotos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rotar is [roˈt̪aɾ] while rotos is [ˈrot̪os]. 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 (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rotar is recorded at frequency rank #39,443, classified as averb, pronounced [roˈt̪aɾ]. rotos is at rank #10,418, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ˈrot̪os].

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 49861, this pair ranks #106,452 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rotar vs rotos

Shared letters: ort. Private to "rotar": a. Private to "rotos": s.

"rotar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rotos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rotarortar · roatr · rotarr · rotra · rottar · rrotar · rtoar
  • rotosroots · rotoss · rotso · rottos · rrotos · rtoos

Frequency comparison

rotar#39,443
rotos#10,418

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rotar" and "rotos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rotar" is a verb and "rotos" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rotar" or "rotos"?
"rotos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,418 in our Spanish list, against #39,443 for "rotar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rotar vs rotos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “rotar”; for a participle, it's “rotos”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rotar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list