sacrificarvssacrificarseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,927
“sacrificar” frequency rank
#35,741
“sacrificarse” frequency rank
46668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacrificar sacrificarse
Definition Ofrecer una vida humana o animal a los dioses. Sacrificar (uso pronominal de ...)

Where the eye mixes sacrificar and sacrificarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. sacrificar runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVC) against sacrificarse's 12 (CVCCVCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
sacrificar
12 ch
sacrificarse

Visual trap between sacrificar and sacrificarse

A purely visual mix-up. sacrificar ([sakɾifiˈkaɾ]) and sacrificarse ([sakɾifiˈkaɾse]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “sacrificar” sits inside “sacrificarse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sacrificar is recorded at frequency rank #10,927, classified as averb, pronounced [sakɾifiˈkaɾ]. sacrificarse is at rank #35,741, tagged as averb, pronounced [sakɾifiˈkaɾse].

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 46668, this pair ranks #124,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacrificar vs sacrificarse

Shared letters: acfirs. Private to "sacrificar": -. Private to "sacrificarse": e.

"sacrificar" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "sacrificarse" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacrificar ← ascrificar · saccrificar · sacirficar · sacrfiicar · sacrifciar · sacrifficar · sacrifiacr · sacrificarr
  • sacrificarse ← ascrificarse · saccrificarse · sacirficarse · sacrfiicarse · sacrifciarse · sacrifficarse · sacrifiacrse · sacrificarce

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacrificar" and "sacrificarse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([sakɾifiˈkaɾ] versus [sakɾifiˈkaɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sacrificar" or "sacrificarse" show up more?
"sacrificar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,927 in our Spanish list, against #35,741 for "sacrificarse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sacrificar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sacrificarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #124,453 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sacrificar" and "sacrificarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sacrificada vs sacrificar". 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 #124,453 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