Which to use
“vigía” and “vigilar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,154
- “vigía” frequency rank
- #8,739
- “vigilar” frequency rank
- 39893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vigía | vigilar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de vigiar. | Seguir intencionadamente el comportamiento de alguien o algo. |
Where the eye mixes vigía and vigilar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vigía runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against vigilar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between vigía and vigilar
A purely visual mix-up. vigía ([biˈxia]) and vigilar ([bixiˈlaɾ]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vigía is recorded at frequency rank #31,154, classified as averb, pronounced [biˈxia]. vigilar is at rank #8,739, tagged as averb, pronounced [bixiˈlaɾ].
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 39893, this pair ranks #162,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vigía vs vigilar
Shared letters: agiv. Private to "vigía": í. Private to "vigilar": lr.
"vigía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "vigilar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vigilar ← bigilar · ivgilar · vgiilar · viggilar · vigialr · vigilarr · vigillar · vigilra
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vigía" for "vigilar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "vigía" or "vigilar"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "vigía" and "vigilar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "vigía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vigilar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vigía" and "vigilar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigía vs Vira". 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 #162,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.