Which to use
“oco” is an adjective and “oie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,951
- “oco” frequency rank
- #30,656
- “oie” frequency rank
- 58607
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oco | oie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que não tem miolo | ganso |
Where the eye mixes oco and oie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses oco with oie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oco is /ˈo.ku/ while oie is /wa/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oco is recorded at frequency rank #27,951, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈo.ku/. oie is at rank #30,656, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wa/.
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 58607, this pair ranks #8,649 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of oco vs oie
Shared letters: o. Private to "oco": c. Private to "oie": ei.
"oco" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "oie" · 3 letters · shape VVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oco" for "oie" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "oco" or "oie" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "oco" and "oie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "oco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,649 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oco" and "oie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oie vs oni". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,649 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.