empatadovsempatarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,011
“empatado” frequency rank
#21,314
“empatar” frequency rank
56325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empatado empatar
Definition Participio de empatar. Quedar iguales los votos de modo que no pueda haber resolución o elección.

Where the eye mixes empatado and empatar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. empatado runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against empatar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
empatado
7 ch
empatar

Look-alike desk: empatado vs empatar

A purely visual mix-up. empatado ([ẽmpaˈt̪að̞o]) and empatar ([ẽmpaˈt̪aɾ]) 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 56325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empatado is recorded at frequency rank #35,011, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmpaˈt̪að̞o]. empatar is at rank #21,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmpaˈt̪aɾ].

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 56325, this pair ranks #75,090 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of empatado vs empatar

Shared letters: aempt. Private to "empatado": do. Private to "empatar": r.

"empatado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "empatar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empatadoemaptado · emmpatado · empaatdo · empataddo · empataod · empatdao · empattado · emppatado
  • empataremaptar · emmpatar · empaatr · empatarr · empatra · empattar · emppatar · emptaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empatado" and "empatar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ẽmpaˈt̪að̞o] versus [ẽmpaˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "empatado" vs "empatar" - which ranks higher?
"empatar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,314 in our Spanish list, against #35,011 for "empatado". 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 "empatado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empatar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,090 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empatado" and "empatar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empapados vs empatado". 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 #75,090 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