Which to use
“foca” is a noun and “fome” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,451
- “foca” frequency rank
- #38,128
- “fome” frequency rank
- 64579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foca | fome |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Que no provoca gracia. |
Where the eye mixes foca and fome
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. foca and fome follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between foca and fome
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foca is [ˈfoka] while fome is [ˈfome]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64579, 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]. fome is at rank #38,128, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfome].
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 64579, this pair ranks #45,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foca vs fome
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foca": ac. Private to "fome": em.
"foca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foca" and "fome" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "foca" or "fome" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "foca" and "fome" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fome" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foca" and "fome" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fome vs fora". 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 #45,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.