otvsotraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ot is a noun, otra is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ot” is a noun and “otra” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,326
“ot” frequency rank
#106
“otra” frequency rank
29432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ot otra
Definition Hierba. Forma del femenino de otro.

Where the eye mixes ot and otra

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

2 ch
ot
4 ch
otra

Why the eye confuses ot with otra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ot is [ˈot] while otra is [ˈot̪ɾa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ot” sits inside “otra”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ot is recorded at frequency rank #29,326, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈot]. otra is at rank #106, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈot̪ɾa].

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 29432, this pair ranks #217,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ot vs otra

Shared letters: ot. Private to "ot": -. Private to "otra": ar.

"ot" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "otra" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • otraorta · otar · otrra · ottra · tora

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ot" and "otra" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ot" is a noun and "otra" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ot" or "otra"?
"otra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #106 in our Spanish list, against #29,326 for "ot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "otra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ot" and "otra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ome vs ot". 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 #217,028 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