obravsoroTell them apart

Which to use

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

#447
“obra” frequency rank
#752
“oro” frequency rank
1199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obra oro
Definition Resultado de un trabajo. Elemento químico con el número atómico 79. Es un metal pesado, dúctil, maleable, resistente a la corrosión, muy apreciado en joyería desde la remota Antigüedad.

Where the eye mixes obra and oro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
obra
3 ch
oro

Why the eye confuses obra with oro

A purely visual mix-up. obra ([ˈoβ̞ɾa]) and oro ([ˈoɾo]) 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 1199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obra is recorded at frequency rank #447, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoβ̞ɾa]. oro is at rank #752, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈoɾo].

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 1199, this pair ranks #322,425 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obra vs oro

Shared letters: or. Private to "obra": ab. Private to "oro": -.

"obra" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "oro" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obraobar · obbra · obrra · orba · ovra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obra" and "oro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoβ̞ɾa] versus [ˈoɾo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "obra" vs "oro" - which ranks higher?
"obra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #447 in our Spanish list, against #752 for "oro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "obra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "oro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #322,425 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obra" and "oro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oirá vs oro". 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 #322,425 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