Seconds versus tens of seconds
Ordinary meteors are extremely fast and often vanish within one or a few seconds. Large fireballs can persist longer, but a slow procession of fragments lasting tens of seconds is more consistent with reentry.
Fragmentation pattern
A meteor can flare and split abruptly. Reentry debris often produces multiple glowing pieces that continue along a similar path for a noticeably longer time. Neither pattern is absolute, so preserve video timestamps if available.
CNEOS is valuable but incomplete
NASA/JPL CNEOS publishes large fireballs detected by U.S. government sensors. It is not a registry of every meteor people see. A close time/location record is useful supporting evidence; no record is not evidence that the sighting was not a meteor.
Launch data is context
A launch around the same time can make a rocket-related explanation more plausible. Visibility depends on trajectory, stage events, illumination and geography, so a global schedule match alone cannot prove the source.
Verification sources
Use NASA/JPL CNEOS, CelesTrak, ADSB.lol, NOAA SWPC and Launch Library 2 according to their coverage and time window. Sky Event Radar keeps missing evidence explicit.