vacíavsvariarWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,085
“vacía” frequency rank
#8,330
“variar” frequency rank
15415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacía variar
Definition Forma del femenino singular de vacío. Cambiar el estado, la forma o la composición de una cosa.

Where the eye mixes vacía and variar

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

5 ch
vacía
6 ch
variar

Look-alike desk: vacía vs variar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacía is [baˈsia] while variar is [baˈɾjaɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15415, 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]. variar is at rank #8,330, tagged as averb, pronounced [baˈɾjaɾ].

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 15415, this pair ranks #280,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vacía vs variar

Shared letters: av. Private to "vacía": . Private to "variar": ir.

"vacía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "variar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • variaravriar · bariar · vairar · varair · variarr · varira · varriar · vraiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vacía" and "variar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vacía" is an adjective and "variar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vacía" or "variar"?
"vacía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,085 in our Spanish list, against #8,330 for "variar". 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 "vacía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "variar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #280,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vacía" and "variar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacía vs vacila". 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 #280,254 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