old

/ˈəʊld/

//ˈəʊld// adj

The verdict

“old” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #11,277) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#11,277
frequency rank, Spanish
1,467
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Viejo, anciano.

Corpus desk

Index ES-old · old · Spanish

old · rank #11,277 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,277
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,467
  • PHOTO-FINISH objetiva

Nearest frequency peer: objetiva (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vecinos de frecuencia del confusable “old”

Pares de peso similar en el corpus, aparte de los confusables abajo

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “old” frente a los lemas españoles más cercanos por rango, no un reprint del escritorio de confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

old vs os
33% similar
old vs on
33% similar
old vs or
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for old
PropertyValue
Headwordold
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈəʊld/
Letters3
Frequency rank#11,277
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “old”

Esta escala corre desde el núcleo del español cotidiano (izquierda) hasta el rastro de formas rara vez usadas (derecha).oldcae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “objetiva” (#11,276), “olimpiadas” (#11,278), “ny” (#11,275). Entre 1,467 lemas con “O”, “old” va en #11,277. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for old is neighbouring look-alikes ("os", "on", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ˈəʊld/. Frequency #11,277 among 1,467 “O” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Zero misspellings are on record for old in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Spanish rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "os", "on", "or", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is old, spelled O-L-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Viejo, anciano.
  2. 2
    Antiguo, viejo.
  3. 3
    Sin traducción directa. Cuando se utiliza con una expresión de tiempo, quiere decir que algo ha existido o vivido durante el período especificado.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how old appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
  2. The buildings at my school are very old.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "old"?
"old" is spelled O-L-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈəʊld/.
What does "old" mean?
As an adjective, "old" means: Viejo, anciano.
What words are commonly confused with "old"?
"old" is commonly confused with "os", "on", "or". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "old"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "old" is /ˈəʊld/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "old" come from?
"old" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "old", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list