acnévsaleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,506
“acné” frequency rank
#15,530
“ale” frequency rank
41036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acné ale
Definition Afección cutánea causada por la obstrucción de los conductos de las glándulas sebáceas, formando pápulas y comedones, frecuente especialmente en la adolescencia. Cerveza de cebada, típica de las islas británicas, de color más oscuro, sabor más intenso y mayor graduación alcohólica que la cerveza rubia o lager.

Where the eye mixes acné and ale

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
acné
3 ch
ale

Why the eye confuses acné with ale

A purely visual mix-up. acné ([akˈne]) and ale ([ˈeɪ.l̩]) 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 41036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acné is recorded at frequency rank #25,506, classified as anoun, pronounced [akˈne]. ale is at rank #15,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeɪ.l̩].

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 41036, this pair ranks #155,836 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acné vs ale

Shared letters: a. Private to "acné": cné. Private to "ale": el.

"acné" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acné" and "ale" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([akˈne] versus [ˈeɪ.l̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acné" or "ale"?
"ale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,530 in our Spanish list, against #25,506 for "acné". 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 "acné" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,836 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acné" and "ale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acné vs ape". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #155,836 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