opiovsopusoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,191
“opio” frequency rank
#15,187
“opuso” frequency rank
34378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opio opuso
Definition Látex que se obtiene de la adormidera (papaverácea) cuando está verde y que, una vez secado, se usa como sustancia estupefaciente. 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 opio and opuso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. opio runs 4 letters (VCVV) against opuso's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
opio
5 ch
opuso

Why the eye confuses opio with opuso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: opio is [ˈopjo] while opuso is [oˈpuso]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 34378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opio is recorded at frequency rank #19,191, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈopjo]. 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 34378, this pair ranks #191,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of opio vs opuso

Shared letters: op. Private to "opio": i. Private to "opuso": su.

"opio" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "opuso" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • opio ← oipo · opoi · oppio · poio
  • opuso ← oppuso · opsuo · opuos · opusso · oupso · pouso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "opio" for "opuso" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "opio" is a noun and "opuso" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "opio" vs "opuso" - which ranks higher?
"opuso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,187 in our Spanish list, against #19,191 for "opio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "opio" 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 #191,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "opio" and "opuso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ojito vs opio". 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 #191,775 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