focovsfogónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,680
“foco” frequency rank
#41,924
“fogón” frequency rank
48604
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foco fogón
Definition Punto físico en el que convergen los rayos de luz reflejados o refractados por una lente o espejo. Sitio adecuado en las cocinas para hacer fuego y guisar.

Where the eye mixes foco and fogón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. foco runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fogón's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
foco
5 ch
fogón

Visual trap between foco and fogón

A purely visual mix-up. foco ([ˈfoko]) and fogón ([foˈɣ̞õn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foco is recorded at frequency rank #6,680, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfoko]. fogón is at rank #41,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced [foˈɣ̞õn].

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 48604, this pair ranks #113,539 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foco vs fogón

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foco": c. Private to "fogón": gnó.

"foco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fogón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foco ← fcoo · ffoco · focco · fooc · ofco

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "foco" for "fogón" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoko] versus [foˈɣ̞õn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foco" or "fogón"?
"foco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,680 in our Spanish list, against #41,924 for "fogón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fogón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,539 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foco" and "fogón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fogón vs foot". 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 #113,539 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