ecovseraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“eco” and “era” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,414
“eco” frequency rank
#65
“era” frequency rank
4479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eco era
Definition Repetición del sonido causado por la reflexión de la onda sonora al chocar con una superficie rígida. Periodo geológico de larga duración.

Where the eye mixes eco and era

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
eco
3 ch
era

Visual trap between eco and era

A purely visual mix-up. eco ([ˈeko]) and era ([ˈeɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eco is recorded at frequency rank #4,414, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeko]. era is at rank #65, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeɾa].

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 4479, this pair ranks #315,996 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eco vs era

Shared letters: e. Private to "eco": co. Private to "era": ar.

"eco" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "era" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eco" for "era" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeko] versus [ˈeɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "eco" vs "era" - which ranks higher?
"era" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our Spanish list, against #4,414 for "eco". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "era" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #315,996 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eco" and "era" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eco vs EPL". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #315,996 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