enfocanvsenfocarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,244
“enfocan” frequency rank
#19,098
“enfocar” frequency rank
44342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfocan enfocar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de enfocar o de enfocarse. Ajustar la imagen de un objeto captada por un dispositivo o aparato óptico para que se reproduzca con claridad o nitidez.

Where the eye mixes enfocan and enfocar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enfocan and enfocar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
enfocan
7 ch
enfocar

Why the eye confuses enfocan with enfocar

A purely visual mix-up. enfocan ([ẽɱˈfokãn]) and enfocar ([ẽɱfoˈkaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “enfocan” becomes r in “enfocar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfocan is recorded at frequency rank #25,244, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽɱˈfokãn]. enfocar is at rank #19,098, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽɱfoˈkaɾ].

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 44342, this pair ranks #137,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enfocan vs enfocar

Shared letters: acefno. Private to "enfocan": -. Private to "enfocar": r.

"enfocan" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "enfocar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfocanefnocan · enfcoan · enffocan · enfoacn · enfocann · enfoccan · enfocna · ennfocan
  • enfocarefnocar · enfcoar · enffocar · enfoacr · enfocarr · enfoccar · enfocra · ennfocar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfocan" and "enfocar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ẽɱˈfokãn] versus [ẽɱfoˈkaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "enfocan" or "enfocar" show up more?
"enfocar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,098 in our Spanish list, against #25,244 for "enfocan". 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 "enfocan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfocar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfocan" and "enfocar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfocan vs enfocando". 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 #137,590 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