Which to use
“vacío” is an adjective and “vais” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,753
- “vacío” frequency rank
- #7,934
- “vais” frequency rank
- 10687
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vacío | vais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que físicamente no contiene nada. | Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del presente de indicativo de ir o de irse. |
Where the eye mixes vacío and vais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: vacío vs vais
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacío is [baˈsio] while vais is [ˈbajs]. 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 10687, 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]. vais is at rank #7,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbajs].
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 10687, this pair ranks #297,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vacío vs vais
Shared letters: av. Private to "vacío": coí. Private to "vais": is.
"vacío" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "vais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vais ← bais · vaiss · vasi · vvais
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vacío" for "vais" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vacío" or "vais" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "vacío" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vacío" and "vais" 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 #297,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.