AgarvsAlanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,783
“Agar” frequency rank
#5,065
“Alan” frequency rank
47848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Agar Alan
Definition Apellido. Nombre de pila de varón.

Where the eye mixes Agar and Alan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Agar
4 ch
Alan

Visual trap between Agar and Alan

A purely visual mix-up. Agar ([aˈɣ̞aɾ]) and Alan ([ˈalãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Agar is recorded at frequency rank #42,783, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈɣ̞aɾ]. Alan is at rank #5,065, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈalãn].

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 47848, this pair ranks #117,773 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Agar vs Alan

Shared letters: a. Private to "Agar": gr. Private to "Alan": ln.

"Agar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Alan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Agaraagr · agarr · aggar · gaar
  • Alanaaln · alann · allan · alna · laan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Agar" for "Alan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [ˈalãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Agar" vs "Alan" - which ranks higher?
"Alan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,065 in our Spanish list, against #42,783 for "Agar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Agar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Alan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,773 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Agar" and "Alan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Agar vs ajuar". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #117,773 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