focovsfonoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,680
“foco” frequency rank
#40,847
“fono” frequency rank
47527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foco fono
Definition Punto físico en el que convergen los rayos de luz reflejados o refractados por una lente o espejo. Dispositivo de telecomunicación que recibe y transmite sonido, codificado como impulsos eléctricos, mediante un cable o una señal de radio, permitiendo así la comunicación entre ubicaciones distantes

Where the eye mixes foco and fono

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. foco and fono follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
foco
4 ch
fono

Look-alike desk: foco vs fono

A purely visual mix-up. foco ([ˈfoko]) and fono ([ˈfono]) 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 a single letter - c in “foco” becomes n in “fono”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47527, 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]. fono is at rank #40,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfono].

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 47527, this pair ranks #119,539 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foco vs fono

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foco": c. Private to "fono": n.

"foco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fono" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foco ← fcoo · ffoco · focco · fooc · ofco
  • fono ← ffono · fnoo · fonno · foon · ofno

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foco" and "fono" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoko] versus [ˈfono]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "foco" vs "fono" - which ranks higher?
"foco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,680 in our Spanish list, against #40,847 for "fono". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "fono" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,539 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foco" and "fono" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fono 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 #119,539 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