vacíovsvaríaConfusable pair

Quick tell: vacío is a adjective, varía is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vacío” is an adjective and “varía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,753
“vacío” frequency rank
#8,449
“varía” frequency rank
11202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vacío varía
Definition Que físicamente no contiene nada. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de variar.

Where the eye mixes vacío and varía

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

5 ch
vacío
5 ch
varía

Why the eye confuses vacío with varía

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vacío is [baˈsio] while varía is [baˈɾia]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11202, 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]. varía is at rank #8,449, tagged as averb, pronounced [baˈɾia].

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 11202, this pair ranks #295,937 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vacío vs varía

Shared letters: aví. Private to "vacío": co. Private to "varía": r.

"vacío" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "varía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vacío" and "varía" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vacío" is an adjective and "varía" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vacío" or "varía"?
"vacío" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,753 in our Spanish list, against #8,449 for "varía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "vacío" and "varía" 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 "varía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,937 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vacío" and "varía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vacila vs varía". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #295,937 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