oso

[ˈoso]

/[ˈoso]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“oso” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,644) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,644
frequency rank, Spanish
1,467
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nombre común de los mamíferos carnívoros de la familia úrsidos que incluye géneros Ursus, Thalarctos y Tremarctos entre otros. Son de tamaño considerable, de cabeza voluminosa, ojos pequeños y orej...

Corpus desk

Index ES-oso · oso · Spanish

oso · rank #5,644 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,644
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,467
  • PHOTO-FINISH opuesto

Nearest frequency peer: opuesto (-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 “oso”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Las barras sitúan “oso” 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).

oso vs oz
33% similar
oso vs ou
33% similar
oso vs ot
33% similar

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

Key facts for oso
PropertyValue
Headwordoso
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈoso]
Letters3
Frequency rank#5,644
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rango de corpus junto a confusables de “oso”

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

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

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “opuesto” (#5,643), “pares” (#5,645), “oculta” (#5,642). Entre 1,467 lemas con “O”, “oso” va en #5,644. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for oso is neighbouring look-alikes ("oz", "ou", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈoso]. Frequency #5,644 among 1,467 “O” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Zero misspellings are on record for oso in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "oz", "ou", "ot", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is oso, spelled O-S-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nombre común de los mamíferos carnívoros de la familia úrsidos que incluye géneros Ursus, Thalarctos y Tremarctos entre otros. Son de tamaño considerable, de cabeza voluminosa, ojos pequeños y orejas mas o menos cortas y redondeadas. Tronco tosco, patas cortas y robustas, pies con uñas no retráctiles. Son omnívoros y grandes marchadores. Actualmente los osos se hallan en algunas zonas de Europa, Asia y América; no se encuentran en África, Australia y la Antártida.
  2. 2
    En sentido figurado, hombre homosexual masculino, corpulento y con abundante vello, lo que permite parecerse a un oso₂.
  3. 3
    Situación o experiencia ridícula o embarazosa.
  4. 4
    Persona encargada de cuidar y velar por la seguridad de un político, artista o persona que paga por este servicio.

Synonyms

guardaespaldas

This word in other languages

bear(English)

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 "oso"?
"oso" is spelled O-S-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈoso].
What does "oso" mean?
As a noun, "oso" means: Nombre común de los mamíferos carnívoros de la familia úrsidos que incluye géneros Ursus, Thalarctos y Tremarctos entre otros. Son de tamaño considerable, de cabeza voluminosa, ojos pequeños y orej...
What words are commonly confused with "oso"?
"oso" is commonly confused with "oz", "ou", "ot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "oso"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "oso" is [ˈoso]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "oso" come from?
"oso" 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 "oso", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

day#5,598ave#5,694can#5,588sed#5,559

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list