aclaróvsalabóTell them apart

Which to use

“aclaró” and “alabó” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,289
“aclaró” frequency rank
#33,402
“alabó” frequency rank
45691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aclaró alabó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de aclarar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de alabar.

Where the eye mixes aclaró and alabó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aclaró runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against alabó's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
aclaró
5 ch
alabó

Look-alike desk: aclaró vs alabó

A purely visual mix-up. aclaró ([aklaˈɾo]) and alabó ([alaˈβ̞o]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aclaró is recorded at frequency rank #12,289, classified as averb, pronounced [aklaˈɾo]. alabó is at rank #33,402, tagged as averb, pronounced [alaˈβ̞o].

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 45691, this pair ranks #129,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aclaró vs alabó

Shared letters: aló. Private to "aclaró": cr. Private to "alabó": b.

"aclaró" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "alabó" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aclaró" for "alabó" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aklaˈɾo] versus [alaˈβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aclaró" vs "alabó" - which ranks higher?
"aclaró" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,289 in our Spanish list, against #33,402 for "alabó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aclaró" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alabó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aclaró" and "alabó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alabó vs alió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #129,975 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list