vacíavsvicioWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,085
“vacía” frequency rank
#7,938
“vicio” frequency rank
15023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacía vicio
Definition Forma del femenino singular de vacío. Hábito pernicioso o disfuncional del carácter

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vacía and vicio apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
vacía
5 ch
vicio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacía is [baˈsia] while vicio is [ˈbisjo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15023, 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]. vicio is at rank #7,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbisjo].

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 15023, this pair ranks #281,787 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vacía vs vicio

Shared letters: cv. Private to "vacía": . Private to "vicio": io.

"vacía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vicio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viciobicio · ivcio · vciio · viccio · vicoi · viico · visio · vvicio

Frequency comparison

vacía#7,085
vicio#7,938

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vacía" and "vicio" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vacía" is an adjective and "vicio" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vacía" or "vicio"?
"vacía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,085 in our Spanish list, against #7,938 for "vicio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vacía vs vicio

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “vacía”; for a noun, it's “vicio”.
  • 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