old
/ˈəʊld/
The verdict
“old” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #11,277 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,277
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Viejo, anciano.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | old |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈəʊld/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #11,277 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “old” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for old is 3 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈəʊld/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,277 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Viejo, anciano.
- 2Antiguo, viejo.
- 3Sin traducción directa. Cuando se utiliza con una expresión de tiempo, quiere decir que algo ha existido o vivido durante el período especificado.
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
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Using “old”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is O-L-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈəʊld/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “os” - see the side-by-side comparison. old vs os
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.