oco vs opção, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#27,951
“oco” frequency rank: #1,501
“opção” frequency rank: 29452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	oco	opção
Definition	que não tem miolo	ato de optar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set oco and opção apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

oco

5 ch

opção

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oco is /ˈo.ku/ while opção is /ɔ.ˈpsɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29452, 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/. opção is at rank #1,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɔ.ˈpsɐ̃w̃/.

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 29452, this pair ranks #39,167 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oco vs opção

Shared letters: o. Private to "oco": c. Private to "opção": pãç.

"oco" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "opção" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Frequency comparison

oco#27,951

opção#1,501

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "oco" and "opção" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oco" is an adjective and "opção" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "oco" or "opção"?

"opção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,501 in our Portuguese list, against #27,951 for "oco". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering oco vs opção

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “oco”; for a noun, it's “opção”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “oco” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable