vigíavsvistaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vigía is a verb, vista is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vigía” is a verb and “vista” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,154
“vigía” frequency rank
#544
“vista” frequency rank
31698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vigía vista
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de vigiar. Sentido con el que se perciben los colores, formas y movimientos mediante la luz.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vigía and vista apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
vigía
5 ch
vista

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vigía is [biˈxia] while vista is [ˈbist̪a]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31698, 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]. vista is at rank #544, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbist̪a].

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 31698, this pair ranks #205,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vigía vs vista

Shared letters: aiv. Private to "vigía": . Private to "vista": st.

"vigía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vista" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vistabista · ivsta · visat · vissta · vistta · vitsa · vsita · vvista

Frequency comparison

vigía#31,154
vista#544

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vigía" and "vista" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vigía" is a verb and "vista" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vigía" or "vista"?
"vista" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #544 in our Spanish list, against #31,154 for "vigía". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vigía vs vista

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “vigía”; for a noun, it's “vista”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vigía” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list