vacíavsvalgaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vacía is a adjective, valga is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vacía” is an adjective and “valga” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,085
“vacía” frequency rank
#7,935
“valga” frequency rank
15020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacía valga
Definition Forma del femenino singular de vacío. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de valer o de valerse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vacía and valga apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
vacía
5 ch
valga

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacía is [baˈsia] while valga is [ˈbalɣ̞a]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vacía is recorded at frequency rank #7,085, classified as anadj, pronounced [baˈsia]. valga is at rank #7,935, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbalɣ̞a].

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 15020, this pair ranks #281,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vacía vs valga

Shared letters: av. Private to "vacía": . Private to "valga": gl.

"vacía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "valga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valgaavlga · balga · vagla · valag · valgga · vallga · vlaga · vvalga

Frequency comparison

vacía#7,085
valga#7,935

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vacía" and "valga" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vacía" is an adjective and "valga" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vacía" or "valga"?
"vacía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,085 in our Spanish list, against #7,935 for "valga". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vacía vs valga

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “vacía”; for a verb, it's “valga”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vacía” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list