empacarvsempujarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,326
“empacar” frequency rank
#14,129
“empujar” frequency rank
55455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empacar empujar
Definition Empaquetar, acondicionar cosas en paquetes o fardos. Aplicar una fuerza para mover o detener algo o a alguien.

Where the eye mixes empacar and empujar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. empacar and empujar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
empacar
7 ch
empujar

Look-alike desk: empacar vs empujar

A purely visual mix-up. empacar ([ẽmpaˈkaɾ]) and empujar ([ẽmpuˈxaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empacar is recorded at frequency rank #41,326, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmpaˈkaɾ]. empujar is at rank #14,129, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmpuˈxaɾ].

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 55455, this pair ranks #78,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of empacar vs empujar

Shared letters: aempr. Private to "empacar": c. Private to "empujar": ju.

"empacar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "empujar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empacar ← emapcar · emmpacar · empaacr · empacarr · empaccar · empacra · empcaar · emppacar
  • empujar ← emmpujar · empjuar · emppujar · empuajr · empujarr · empujjar · empujra · emupjar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "empacar" for "empujar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ẽmpaˈkaɾ] versus [ẽmpuˈxaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "empacar" vs "empujar" - which ranks higher?
"empujar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,129 in our Spanish list, against #41,326 for "empacar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "empacar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empujar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empacar" and "empujar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "embarcar vs empacar". 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 #78,804 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