vacíovsvagoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,753
“vacío” frequency rank
#9,054
“vago” frequency rank
11807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacío vago
Definition Que físicamente no contiene nada. Que no desea hacer tareas, ni actividad alguna.

Where the eye mixes vacío and vago

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

5 ch
vacío
4 ch
vago

Visual trap between vacío and vago

A purely visual mix-up. vacío ([baˈsio]) and vago ([ˈbaɣ̞o]) 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 11807, 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]. vago is at rank #9,054, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbaɣ̞o].

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 11807, this pair ranks #293,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vacío vs vago

Shared letters: aov. Private to "vacío": . Private to "vago": g.

"vacío" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vago" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vagoavgo · bago · vaggo · vaog · vgao · vvago

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vacío" and "vago" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([baˈsio] versus [ˈbaɣ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vacío" or "vago"?
"vacío" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,753 in our Spanish list, against #9,054 for "vago". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vacío" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vago" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vacío" and "vago" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacila vs vacío". 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 #293,800 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