empiecevsempiezaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: empiece is a noun, empieza is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empiece” is a noun and “empieza” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,397
“empiece” frequency rank
#1,444
“empieza” frequency rank
7841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empiece empieza
Definition Principio. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de empezar.

Where the eye mixes empiece and empieza

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

7 ch
empiece
7 ch
empieza

Why the eye confuses empiece with empieza

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empiece is [ẽmˈpjese] while empieza is [ẽmˈpjesa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empiece is recorded at frequency rank #6,397, classified as anoun, pronounced [ẽmˈpjese]. empieza is at rank #1,444, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈpjesa].

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 7841, this pair ranks #306,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of empiece vs empieza

Shared letters: eimp. Private to "empiece": c. Private to "empieza": az.

"empiece" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "empieza" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empieceemipece · emmpiece · empeice · empicee · empiecce · empieec · empiese · emppiece
  • empiezaemipeza · emmpieza · empeiza · empieaz · empiezza · empizea · emppieza · epmieza

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empiece" and "empieza" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empiece" is a noun and "empieza" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empiece" or "empieza"?
"empieza" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,444 in our Spanish list, against #6,397 for "empiece". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "empiece" and "empieza" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "empiece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empieza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empiece" and "empieza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empiece vs emplee". 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 #306,770 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