horavshoyaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#286
“hora” frequency rank
#33,648
“hoya” frequency rank
33934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hora hoya
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. Depresión de forma aproximadamente cóncava practicada en una superficie

Where the eye mixes hora and hoya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hora
4 ch
hoya

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hora ([ˈoɾa]) and hoya ([ˈoʝa]) 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 - r in “hora” becomes y in “hoya”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hora is recorded at frequency rank #286, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoɾa]. hoya is at rank #33,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈoʝa].

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 33934, this pair ranks #194,114 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hora vs hoya

Shared letters: aho. Private to "hora": r. Private to "hoya": y.

"hora" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hoya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • horahhora · hoar · horra · hroa · ohra
  • hoyahhoya · hoay · hoyya · hyoa · ohya

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hora" and "hoya" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoɾa] versus [ˈoʝa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hora" or "hoya"?
"hora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #286 in our Spanish list, against #33,648 for "hoya". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list