ocavsopacaTell them apart

Quick tell: oca is a noun, opaca is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“oca” is a noun and “opaca” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,772
“oca” frequency rank
#32,783
“opaca” frequency rank
50555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oca opaca
Definition Ánsar común domesticado. Se cría para aprovechar su carne, huevos e hígado, este último materia prima del paté o foie gras. Es un ave de tamaño mediano, con cuerpo robusto y plumaje blanco, gris o pardo. Tiene cuello arqueado y pico grueso, con color encendido, lo mismo que sus patas que están adaptadas para la natación. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de opacar.

Where the eye mixes oca and opaca

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

3 ch
oca
5 ch
opaca

Look-alike desk: oca vs opaca

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oca is [ˈoka] while opaca is [oˈpaka]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oca is recorded at frequency rank #17,772, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoka]. opaca is at rank #32,783, tagged as averb, pronounced [oˈpaka].

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 50555, this pair ranks #102,578 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oca vs opaca

Shared letters: aco. Private to "oca": -. Private to "opaca": p.

"oca" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "opaca" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • opacaoapca · opaac · opacca · opcaa · oppaca · poaca

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "oca" and "opaca" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oca" is a noun and "opaca" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oca" or "opaca"?
"oca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,772 in our Spanish list, against #32,783 for "opaca". 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 "oca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "opaca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,578 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oca" and "opaca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "opaca vs orca". 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 #102,578 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