lacravslocaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,114
“lacra” frequency rank
#2,255
“loca” frequency rank
28369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacra loca
Definition Secuela de una enfermedad. Varón afeminado o abiertamente homosexual.

Where the eye mixes lacra and loca

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

5 ch
lacra
4 ch
loca

Look-alike desk: lacra vs loca

A purely visual mix-up. lacra ([ˈlakɾa]) and loca ([ˈloka]) 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 28369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacra is recorded at frequency rank #26,114, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlakɾa]. loca is at rank #2,255, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈloka].

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 28369, this pair ranks #222,366 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lacra vs loca

Shared letters: acl. Private to "lacra": r. Private to "loca": o.

"lacra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "loca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacraalcra · lacar · laccra · lacrra · larca · llacra
  • localcoa · lloca · loac · locca · olca

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lacra" for "loca" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlakɾa] versus [ˈloka]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lacra" or "loca"?
"loca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,255 in our Spanish list, against #26,114 for "lacra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lacra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,366 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lacra" and "loca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lacra vs Lyra". 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 #222,366 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