ocasovsopusoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#22,437
“ocaso” frequency rank
#15,187
“opuso” frequency rank
37624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ocaso opuso
Definition Momento en que un astro se oculta a la vista, bajo el horizonte. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de oponer o de oponerse.

Where the eye mixes ocaso and opuso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ocaso and opuso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
ocaso
5 ch
opuso

Why the eye confuses ocaso with opuso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ocaso is [oˈkaso] while opuso is [oˈpuso]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ocaso is recorded at frequency rank #22,437, classified as anoun, pronounced [oˈkaso]. opuso is at rank #15,187, tagged as averb, pronounced [oˈpuso].

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 37624, this pair ranks #174,304 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ocaso vs opuso

Shared letters: os. Private to "ocaso": ac. Private to "opuso": pu.

"ocaso" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "opuso" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ocaso ← coaso · oacso · ocaos · ocasso · occaso · ocsao
  • opuso ← oppuso · opsuo · opuos · opusso · oupso · pouso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ocaso" and "opuso" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ocaso" is a noun and "opuso" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ocaso" or "opuso" show up more?
"opuso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,187 in our Spanish list, against #22,437 for "ocaso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ocaso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "opuso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,304 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ocaso" and "opuso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obtuso vs opuso". 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 #174,304 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