fuegovsfugaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#851
“fuego” frequency rank
#4,903
“fuga” frequency rank
5754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fuego fuga
Definition Oxidación rápida y violenta de un material combustible, que libera calor y luz. Acción o efecto de fugarse o de huir apresuradamente.

Where the eye mixes fuego and fuga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fuego
4 ch
fuga

Visual trap between fuego and fuga

A purely visual mix-up. fuego ([ˈfweɣ̞o]) and fuga ([ˈfuɣ̞a]) 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 5754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fuego is recorded at frequency rank #851, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfweɣ̞o]. fuga is at rank #4,903, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfuɣ̞a].

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 5754, this pair ranks #312,755 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fuego vs fuga

Shared letters: fgu. Private to "fuego": eo. Private to "fuga": a.

"fuego" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "fuga" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fuegofeugo · ffuego · fueggo · fueog · fugeo · ufego
  • fugaffuga · fgua · fuag · fugga · ufga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fuego" for "fuga" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfweɣ̞o] versus [ˈfuɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "fuego" or "fuga" show up more?
"fuego" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #851 in our Spanish list, against #4,903 for "fuga". 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 "fuego" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,755 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fuego" and "fuga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fora vs fuga". 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 #312,755 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