hourvshoyoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,613
“hour” frequency rank
#11,063
“hoyo” frequency rank
45676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hour hoyo
Definition Hora. Depresión de forma aproximadamente cóncava practicada en una superficie.

Where the eye mixes hour and hoyo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hour (CVVC) and hoyo (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
hour
4 ch
hoyo

Why the eye confuses hour with hoyo

A purely visual mix-up. hour (/ˈaʊ.ə(ɹ)/) and hoyo ([ˈoʝo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hour is recorded at frequency rank #34,613, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊ.ə(ɹ)/. hoyo is at rank #11,063, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈoʝo].

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 45676, this pair ranks #130,064 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hour vs hoyo

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hour": ru. Private to "hoyo": y.

"hour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hoyo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hour ← hhour · horu · hourr · huor · ohur
  • hoyo ← hhoyo · hooy · hoyyo · hyoo · ohyo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hour" for "hoyo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaʊ.ə(ɹ)/ versus [ˈoʝo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hour" or "hoyo"?
"hoyo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,063 in our Spanish list, against #34,613 for "hour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hoyo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,064 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hour" and "hoyo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hour vs hut". 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 #130,064 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