obravsobreraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#447
“obra” frequency rank
#9,164
“obrera” frequency rank
9611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obra obrera
Definition Resultado de un trabajo. Hembra estéril en numerosas especies de insectos eusociales, que desempeña tareas de recolección, defensa y construcción.

Where the eye mixes obra and obrera

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

4 ch
obra
6 ch
obrera

Look-alike desk: obra vs obrera

A purely visual mix-up. obra ([ˈoβ̞ɾa]) and obrera ([oˈβ̞ɾeɾa]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9611, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obra is recorded at frequency rank #447, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoβ̞ɾa]. obrera is at rank #9,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced [oˈβ̞ɾeɾa].

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 9611, this pair ranks #301,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obra vs obrera

Shared letters: abor. Private to "obra": -. Private to "obrera": e.

"obra" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "obrera" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obraobar · obbra · obrra · orba · ovra
  • obreraborera · obbrera · oberra · obrear · obrerra · obrrea · obrrera · orbera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obra" and "obrera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoβ̞ɾa] versus [oˈβ̞ɾeɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "obra" vs "obrera" - which ranks higher?
"obra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #447 in our Spanish list, against #9,164 for "obrera". 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 "obra" and "obrera" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "obra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "obrera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obra" and "obrera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obesa vs obrera". 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 #301,403 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