empapadavsempapadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: empapada is a participle, empapado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empapada” is a participle and “empapado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,722
“empapada” frequency rank
#33,103
“empapado” frequency rank
72825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empapada empapado
Definition Forma del femenino de empapado, participio de empapar o de empaparse. Participio de empapar.

Where the eye mixes empapada and empapado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. empapada and empapado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
empapada
8 ch
empapado

Look-alike desk: empapada vs empapado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empapada is [ẽmpaˈpað̞a] while empapado is [ẽmpaˈpað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “empapada” becomes o in “empapado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empapada is recorded at frequency rank #39,722, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽmpaˈpað̞a]. empapado is at rank #33,103, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmpaˈpað̞o].

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 72825, this pair ranks #24,581 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of empapada vs empapado

Shared letters: ademp. Private to "empapada": -. Private to "empapado": o.

"empapada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "empapado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empapadaemappada · emmpapada · empaapda · empapaad · empapadda · empapdaa · empappada · emppaada
  • empapadoemappado · emmpapado · empaapdo · empapaddo · empapaod · empapdao · empappado · emppaado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "empapada" for "empapado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empapada" is a participle and "empapado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empapada" or "empapado"?
"empapado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,103 in our Spanish list, against #39,722 for "empapada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "empapada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empapado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,581 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empapada" and "empapado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empapada vs empujada". 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 #24,581 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