alto
/ˈæl.toʊ/noun
alto is spelled A-L-T-O: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alto means “A musical part or section higher than tenor and lower than soprano, formerly the part that performed a countermelody above the tenor or main melody” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of alto is altos or alti.
How many letters and syllables are in alto?
| Letters | 4: A-L-T-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,613th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is alto?
Alto appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce alto?
- UK /ˈæl.təʊ/
- US /ˈæl.toʊ/
Alto has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-alto.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with alto?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as alto (/æltoʊ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: tola, lota.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of alto
- altos plural
- alti plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does alto mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A musical part or section higher than tenor and lower than soprano, formerly the part that performed a countermelody above the tenor or main melody.
- 2
A person or musical instrument that performs the alto part.
- 3
colloquialAn alto saxophone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Alto in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense musical part:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does alto come from?
Borrowed from Italian alto (“high”). Doublet of old.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).