Which to use
“va” is a verb and “vado” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #98
- “va” frequency rank
- #40,589
- “vado” frequency rank
- 40687
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | va | vado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ir. | Sitio firme, parejo y de poca profundidad, por donde se puede cruzar un río. |
Where the eye mixes va and vado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between va and vado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: va is [ˈba] while vado is [ˈbað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “va” sits inside “vado”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
va is recorded at frequency rank #98, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈba]. vado is at rank #40,589, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbað̞o].
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 40687, this pair ranks #157,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of va vs vado
Shared letters: av. Private to "va": -. Private to "vado": do.
"va" · 2 letters · shape CV · "vado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- vado ← avdo · bado · vaddo · vaod · vdao · vvado
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "va" for "vado" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "va" or "vado" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "va" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "va" and "vado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vado vs ved". 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 #157,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.