amparavsapagaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,330
“ampara” frequency rank
#10,448
“apaga” frequency rank
40778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ampara apaga
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de amparar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes ampara and apaga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ampara runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against apaga's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ampara
5 ch
apaga

Why the eye confuses ampara with apaga

A purely visual mix-up. ampara ([ãmˈpaɾa]) and apaga ([aˈpaɣ̞a]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ampara is recorded at frequency rank #30,330, classified as averb, pronounced [ãmˈpaɾa]. apaga is at rank #10,448, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɣ̞a].

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 40778, this pair ranks #157,272 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ampara vs apaga

Shared letters: ap. Private to "ampara": mr. Private to "apaga": g.

"ampara" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "apaga" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ampara ← amapra · ammpara · ampaar · amparra · amppara · ampraa · apmara · mapara
  • apaga ← aapga · apaag · apagga · apgaa · appaga · paaga

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ampara" and "apaga" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ãmˈpaɾa] versus [aˈpaɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ampara" vs "apaga" - which ranks higher?
"apaga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,448 in our Spanish list, against #30,330 for "ampara". 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 "ampara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apaga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,272 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ampara" and "apaga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amarra vs ampara". 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 #157,272 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