fobiasvsfosasTell them apart

Quick tell: fobias is a noun, fosas is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fobias” is a noun and “fosas” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,368
“fobias” frequency rank
#16,859
“fosas” frequency rank
58227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fobias fosas
Definition Forma del plural de fobia Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de fosar.

Where the eye mixes fobias and fosas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fobias runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against fosas's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fobias
5 ch
fosas

Visual trap between fobias and fosas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fobias is [ˈfoβ̞jas] while fosas is [ˈfosas]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fobias is recorded at frequency rank #41,368, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfoβ̞jas]. fosas is at rank #16,859, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfosas].

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 58227, this pair ranks #67,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fobias vs fosas

Shared letters: afos. Private to "fobias": bi. Private to "fosas": -.

"fobias" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "fosas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fobias ← fboias · ffobias · fobais · fobbias · fobiass · fobisa · foibas · fovias
  • fosas ← ffosas · foass · fosass · fossas · fsoas · ofsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fobias" for "fosas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fobias" is a noun and "fosas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fobias" vs "fosas" - which ranks higher?
"fosas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,859 in our Spanish list, against #41,368 for "fobias". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fobias" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fosas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fobias" and "fosas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fobias vs folios". 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 #67,254 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