embudovsempujoTell them apart

Quick tell: embudo is a noun, empujo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“embudo” is a noun and “empujo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,625
“embudo” frequency rank
#47,765
“empujo” frequency rank
77390
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature embudo empujo
Definition Utensilio de forma cónica, truncado y abierto por ambos lados, dotado de un tubo en su extremo más estrecho, que se usa para trasvasar líquidos, polvos o gases en recipientes de boca estrecha o tubos Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de empujar.

Where the eye mixes embudo and empujo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. embudo and empujo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
embudo
6 ch
empujo

Look-alike desk: embudo vs empujo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: embudo is [ẽmˈbuð̞o] while empujo is [ẽmˈpuxo]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

embudo is recorded at frequency rank #29,625, classified as anoun, pronounced [ẽmˈbuð̞o]. empujo is at rank #47,765, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈpuxo].

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 77390, this pair ranks #16,093 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of embudo vs empujo

Shared letters: emou. Private to "embudo": bd. Private to "empujo": jp.

"embudo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "empujo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • embudoebmudo · embbudo · embduo · embuddo · embuod · emmbudo · emubdo · emvudo
  • empujoemmpujo · empjuo · emppujo · empujjo · empuoj · emupjo · epmujo · mepujo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "embudo" for "empujo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "embudo" is a noun and "empujo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "embudo" or "empujo" show up more?
"embudo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,625 in our Spanish list, against #47,765 for "empujo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "embudo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empujo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,093 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "embudo" and "empujo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "embudo vs embutido". 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 #16,093 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