focavsfocasConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#26,451
“foca” frequency rank
#27,995
“focas” frequency rank
54446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foca focas
Definition Nombre genérico para diversos mamíferos pinnípedos marinos, en particular para aquellos de la familia Fócidos (Phocidae), adaptados a vivir en medios acuáticos la mayor parte del tiempo. Tienen cuerpos alargados y fusiformes, adaptados a la natación; las extremidades anteriores son cortas y aplanadas, mejor preparadas para su uso como aletas que para el desplazamiento en tierra. Forma del plural de foca.

Where the eye mixes foca and focas

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

4 ch
foca
5 ch
focas

Look-alike desk: foca vs focas

A purely visual mix-up. foca ([ˈfoka]) and focas ([ˈfokas]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “foca” sits inside “focas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foca is recorded at frequency rank #26,451, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfoka]. focas is at rank #27,995, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfokas].

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 54446, this pair ranks #83,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foca vs focas

Shared letters: acfo. Private to "foca": -. Private to "focas": s.

"foca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "focas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foca ← fcoa · ffoca · foac · focca · ofca
  • focas ← fcoas · ffocas · foacs · focass · foccas · focsa · ofcas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "foca" and "focas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoka] versus [ˈfokas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "foca" or "focas" show up more?
"foca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,451 in our Spanish list, against #27,995 for "focas". 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 "foca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "focas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foca" and "focas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flojas vs focas". 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 #83,265 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