vaciarvsvagarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,894
“vaciar” frequency rank
#32,028
“vagar” frequency rank
54922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vaciar vagar
Definition Retirar el interior o contenido de algo. Tener tiempo y lugar suficiente o necesario para hacer una cosa.

Where the eye mixes vaciar and vagar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vaciar runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against vagar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
vaciar
5 ch
vagar

Visual trap between vaciar and vagar

A purely visual mix-up. vaciar ([baˈsjaɾ]) and vagar ([baˈɣ̞aɾ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vaciar is recorded at frequency rank #22,894, classified as averb, pronounced [baˈsjaɾ]. vagar is at rank #32,028, tagged as averb, pronounced [baˈɣ̞aɾ].

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 54922, this pair ranks #81,203 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vaciar vs vagar

Shared letters: arv. Private to "vaciar": ci. Private to "vagar": g.

"vaciar" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "vagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vaciar ← avciar · baciar · vacair · vacciar · vaciarr · vacira · vaicar · vasiar
  • vagar ← avgar · bagar · vaagr · vagarr · vaggar · vagra · vgaar · vvagar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vaciar" for "vagar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([baˈsjaɾ] versus [baˈɣ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vaciar" vs "vagar" - which ranks higher?
"vaciar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,894 in our Spanish list, against #32,028 for "vagar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "vaciar" and "vagar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vaciar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,203 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vaciar" and "vagar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vagar vs Vilar". 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 #81,203 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