cargarvscargarseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,978
“cargar” frequency rank
#32,544
“cargarse” frequency rank
37522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cargar cargarse
Definition Juntar y disponer los objetos sobre una persona o animal para su transporte. No aprobar a alguien en un examen.

Where the eye mixes cargar and cargarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cargar
8 ch
cargarse

Why the eye confuses cargar with cargarse

A purely visual mix-up. cargar ([kaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]) and cargarse ([kaɾˈɣ̞aɾse]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cargar” sits inside “cargarse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cargar is recorded at frequency rank #4,978, classified as averb, pronounced [kaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]. cargarse is at rank #32,544, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaɾˈɣ̞aɾse].

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 37522, this pair ranks #174,876 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cargar vs cargarse

Shared letters: acgr. Private to "cargar": -. Private to "cargarse": es.

"cargar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cargarse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cargaracrgar · cagrar · caragr · cargarr · carggar · cargra · carrgar · ccargar
  • cargarseacrgarse · cagrarse · caragrse · cargarce · cargares · cargarrse · cargarsse · cargasre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cargar" and "cargarse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaɾˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [kaɾˈɣ̞aɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cargar" or "cargarse" show up more?
"cargar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,978 in our Spanish list, against #32,544 for "cargarse". 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 "cargar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cargarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,876 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cargar" and "cargarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cargarse vs colgarse". 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 #174,876 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