horcavshoyaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,812
“horca” frequency rank
#33,648
“hoya” frequency rank
57460
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature horca hoya
Definition Vara o palo cuyo extremo se bifurca en varias puntas. Depresión de forma aproximadamente cóncava practicada en una superficie

Where the eye mixes horca and hoya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. horca runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against hoya's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
horca
4 ch
hoya

Why the eye confuses horca with hoya

A purely visual mix-up. horca ([ˈoɾka]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

horca is recorded at frequency rank #23,812, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoɾka]. 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 57460, this pair ranks #70,430 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of horca vs hoya

Shared letters: aho. Private to "horca": cr. Private to "hoya": y.

"horca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hoya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • horca ← hhorca · hocra · horac · horcca · horrca · hroca · ohrca
  • hoya ← hhoya · hoay · hoyya · hyoa · ohya

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "horca" for "hoya" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoɾka] versus [ˈoʝa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "horca" vs "hoya" - which ranks higher?
"horca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,812 in our Spanish list, against #33,648 for "hoya". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "horca" and "hoya" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "horca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hoya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,430 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "horca" and "hoya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoi vs hoya". 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 #70,430 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