horavshorcaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#286
“hora” frequency rank
#23,812
“horca” frequency rank
24098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hora horca
Definition Cada una de las 24 partes de igual duración en que se divide el día, a su vez subdivididas cada una de ellas en 60 minutos. Vara o palo cuyo extremo se bifurca en varias puntas.

Where the eye mixes hora and horca

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hora
5 ch
horca

Why the eye confuses hora with horca

A purely visual mix-up. hora ([ˈoɾa]) and horca ([ˈoɾka]) 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 24098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hora is recorded at frequency rank #286, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoɾa]. horca is at rank #23,812, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈoɾka].

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 24098, this pair ranks #242,726 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hora vs horca

Shared letters: ahor. Private to "hora": -. Private to "horca": c.

"hora" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "horca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • horahhora · hoar · horra · hroa · ohra
  • horcahhorca · hocra · horac · horcca · horrca · hroca · ohrca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hora" and "horca" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoɾa] versus [ˈoɾka]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hora" vs "horca" - which ranks higher?
"hora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #286 in our Spanish list, against #23,812 for "horca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "hora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "horca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,726 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hora" and "horca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "horca vs orca". 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 #242,726 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