docevsdroneConfusable pair

Quick tell: doce is a num, drone is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“doce” is a num and “drone” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,825
“doce” frequency rank
#23,033
“drone” frequency rank
25858
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doce drone
Definition Once y uno. (Apoidea) Zángano.

Where the eye mixes doce and drone

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
doce
5 ch
drone

Look-alike desk: doce vs drone

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doce is [ˈd̪ose] while drone is /dɹəʊn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doce is recorded at frequency rank #2,825, classified as anum, pronounced [ˈd̪ose]. drone is at rank #23,033, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹəʊn/.

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 25858, this pair ranks #234,476 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doce vs drone

Shared letters: deo. Private to "doce": c. Private to "drone": nr.

"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "drone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docedcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · dose · odce
  • droneddrone · dorne · drnoe · droen · dronne · drrone · rdone

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "doce" for "drone" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doce" is a num and "drone" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "doce" vs "drone" - which ranks higher?
"doce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,825 in our Spanish list, against #23,033 for "drone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "doce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,476 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doce" and "drone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dont vs drone". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #234,476 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list