empezóvsempujoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,243
“empezó” frequency rank
#47,765
“empujo” frequency rank
49008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empezó empujo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de empezar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de empujar.

Where the eye mixes empezó and empujo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. empezó 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
empezó
6 ch
empujo

Visual trap between empezó and empujo

A purely visual mix-up. empezó ([ẽmpeˈso]) and empujo ([ẽmˈpuxo]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empezó is recorded at frequency rank #1,243, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmpeˈso]. 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 49008, this pair ranks #111,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empezó vs empujo

Shared letters: emp. Private to "empezó": zó. Private to "empujo": jou.

"empezó" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "empujo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empujo ← emmpujo · empjuo · emppujo · empujjo · empuoj · emupjo · epmujo · mepujo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "empezó" and "empujo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ẽmpeˈso] versus [ẽmˈpuxo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "empezó" vs "empujo" - which ranks higher?
"empezó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,243 in our Spanish list, against #47,765 for "empujo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "empezó" 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 #111,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empezó" and "empujo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "embudo vs empujo". 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 #111,281 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