Uruguay vs Paraguay

Why people mix them up

Both names end in "-guay", which comes from Guaraní words for river, and both countries are small Spanish-speaking neighbours of Brazil and Argentina in the southern part of South America. They are close to each other on the map, both are often overshadowed by their giant neighbours, and both took their names from rivers (the Uruguay and the Paraguay). People who know one of them exists tend to assume the other is somewhere nearby, which is true, but they are not the same place.

How to tell them apart

• Uruguay has an Atlantic coast; Paraguay is landlocked.
• Paraguay is further north and inland, bordering Bolivia as well as Brazil and Argentina; Uruguay borders only Brazil and Argentina.
• Paraguay is more than twice the size: about 407,000 km² against Uruguay's 176,000 km².
• Uruguay's flag has nine blue and white stripes with a Sun of May in the canton; Paraguay's is a red-white-blue tricolour with an emblem in the centre, and the emblem differs on each side.
• Paraguay has two official languages, Spanish and Guaraní; Uruguay is Spanish-speaking.
• The capitals are Montevideo (Uruguay), on the Río de la Plata, and Asunción (Paraguay), on the Paraguay River.

Memory hook

"Uru-guay" has the U for "under" and the ocean: it is the lower one on the coast. Paraguay is parked inland, above it.

On the map

For Uruguay, find Buenos Aires at the mouth of the Río de la Plata and tap the small country on the opposite, north-eastern bank, squeezed between Argentina and the southern tip of Brazil. For Paraguay, go north from there along the Argentina-Brazil border until you reach the landlocked country wedged between the two, with Bolivia above it. Paraguay is the one with no coastline.