empatadosvsempeñadosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,104
“empatados” frequency rank
#39,725
“empeñados” frequency rank
72829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empatados empeñados
Definition Forma del plural de empatado, participio de empatar. Forma del plural de empeñado, participio de empeñar o de empeñarse.

Where the eye mixes empatados and empeñados

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

9 ch
empatados
9 ch
empeñados

Why the eye confuses empatados with empeñados

A purely visual mix-up. empatados ([ẽmpaˈt̪að̞os]) and empeñados ([ẽmpeˈɲað̞os]) 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 72829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empatados is recorded at frequency rank #33,104, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽmpaˈt̪að̞os]. empeñados is at rank #39,725, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽmpeˈɲað̞os].

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 72829, this pair ranks #24,573 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of empatados vs empeñados

Shared letters: ademops. Private to "empatados": t. Private to "empeñados": ñ.

"empatados" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "empeñados" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empatadosemaptados · emmpatados · empaatdos · empataddos · empatadoss · empatadso · empataods · empatdaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "empatados" and "empeñados" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ẽmpaˈt̪að̞os] versus [ẽmpeˈɲað̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "empatados" or "empeñados" show up more?
"empatados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,104 in our Spanish list, against #39,725 for "empeñados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "empatados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empeñados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,573 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empatados" and "empeñados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empeñados vs empujados". 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 #24,573 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