focavsfourTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,451
“foca” frequency rank
#21,003
“four” frequency rank
47454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foca four
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. Palabra clave radiofónica del ICAO y NATO para la cifra 4.

Where the eye mixes foca and four

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
foca
4 ch
four

Look-alike desk: foca vs four

A purely visual mix-up. foca ([ˈfoka]) and four ([ˈfoa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47454, 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]. four is at rank #21,003, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfoa].

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 47454, this pair ranks #119,968 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foca vs four

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foca": ac. Private to "four": ru.

"foca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "four" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • focafcoa · ffoca · foac · focca · ofca
  • fourffour · foru · fourr · fuor · ofur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "foca" for "four" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoka] versus [ˈfoa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "foca" or "four" show up more?
"four" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,003 in our Spanish list, against #26,451 for "foca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "foca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "four" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,968 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foca" and "four" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foca 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 #119,968 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