The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparison between embedding tests covered by the EN383 and ASTM D5764 standards, highlighting some difficulties regarding the application of the referred standards. These embedding tests are essential to evaluate the embedding strength of wood, which is required for the assessment of joints strength. The proposed comparison is based either on experimental data and numerical simulations through the finite element (FE) method. Tests were performed on maritime pine wood (Pinus pinaster Ait. species) according to the longitudinal and radial directions, allowing the comparison of the embedding strength and elastic foundation modulus. Three dimensional FE models of the tests were built using contact elements technology and assuming the steel dowel and wood as linear elastic isotropic and orthotropic materials, respectively. The contact modelling is a challenging topic for which this paper also proposes some guidance. The test configuration proposed in the EN383 standard for assess-ment of the embedment strength in compression is more susceptible to the dowel bending than the half-hole test configuration proposed in the ASTM D5764 standard. The numerical simulation of the EN383 embedding test raises some additional difficulties regarding the dowel boundary conditions.