enfocavsenfocadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,086
“enfoca” frequency rank
#12,374
“enfocado” frequency rank
28460
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfoca enfocado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de enfocar o de enfocarse. Participio de enfocar o de enfocarse.

Where the eye mixes enfoca and enfocado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enfoca runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against enfocado's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
enfoca
8 ch
enfocado

Look-alike desk: enfoca vs enfocado

A purely visual mix-up. enfoca ([ẽɱˈfoka]) and enfocado ([ẽɱfoˈkað̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “enfoca” sits inside “enfocado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfoca is recorded at frequency rank #16,086, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽɱˈfoka]. enfocado is at rank #12,374, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽɱfoˈkað̞o].

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 28460, this pair ranks #221,925 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enfoca vs enfocado

Shared letters: acefno. Private to "enfoca": -. Private to "enfocado": d.

"enfoca" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "enfocado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfocaefnoca · enfcoa · enffoca · enfoac · enfocca · ennfoca · enofca · nefoca
  • enfocadoefnocado · enfcoado · enffocado · enfoacdo · enfocaddo · enfocaod · enfoccado · enfocdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enfoca" for "enfocado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ẽɱˈfoka] versus [ẽɱfoˈkað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "enfoca" or "enfocado" show up more?
"enfocado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,374 in our Spanish list, against #16,086 for "enfoca". 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 "enfoca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfocado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #221,925 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfoca" and "enfocado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfocado vs enfriado". 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 #221,925 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