Which to use
“vacío” is an adjective and “vado” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,753
- “vacío” frequency rank
- #40,589
- “vado” frequency rank
- 43342
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vacío | vado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que físicamente no contiene nada. | Sitio firme, parejo y de poca profundidad, por donde se puede cruzar un río. |
Where the eye mixes vacío and vado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vacío runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against vado's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: vacío vs vado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacío is [baˈsio] while vado is [ˈbað̞o]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vacío is recorded at frequency rank #2,753, classified as anadj, pronounced [baˈsio]. 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 43342, this pair ranks #143,190 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vacío vs vado
Shared letters: aov. Private to "vacío": cí. Private to "vado": d.
"vacío" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "vado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- vado ← avdo · bado · vaddo · vaod · vdao · vvado
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vacío" and "vado" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "vacío" or "vado"?
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 "vacío" 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 #143,190 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vacío" 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 #143,190 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.