optavsoptarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,978
“opta” frequency rank
#10,723
“optar” frequency rank
35701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opta optar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de optar. Escoger una cosa entre varias.

Where the eye mixes opta and optar

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

4 ch
opta
5 ch
optar

Why the eye confuses opta with optar

A purely visual mix-up. opta ([ˈopt̪a]) and optar ([opˈt̪aɾ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “opta” sits inside “optar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opta is recorded at frequency rank #24,978, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈopt̪a]. optar is at rank #10,723, tagged as averb, pronounced [opˈt̪aɾ].

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 35701, this pair ranks #184,652 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of opta vs optar

Shared letters: aopt. Private to "opta": -. Private to "optar": r.

"opta" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "optar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • optaopat · oppta · optta · otpa · pota
  • optaropatr · opptar · optarr · optra · opttar · otpar · potar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "opta" and "optar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈopt̪a] versus [opˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "opta" vs "optar" - which ranks higher?
"optar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,723 in our Spanish list, against #24,978 for "opta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "opta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "optar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #184,652 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "opta" and "optar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oirá vs opta". 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 #184,652 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