agarravsalargaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,257
“agarra” frequency rank
#32,485
“alarga” frequency rank
38742
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agarra alarga
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de agarrar o de agarrarse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alargar.

Where the eye mixes agarra and alarga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
agarra
6 ch
alarga

Why the eye confuses agarra with alarga

A purely visual mix-up. agarra ([aˈɣ̞ara]) and alarga ([aˈlaɾɣ̞a]) 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 38742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agarra is recorded at frequency rank #6,257, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈɣ̞ara]. alarga is at rank #32,485, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈlaɾɣ̞a].

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 38742, this pair ranks #168,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agarra vs alarga

Shared letters: agr. Private to "agarra": -. Private to "alarga": l.

"agarra" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "alarga" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agarraaagrra · agara · agarar · aggarra · agrara · gaarra
  • alargaaalrga · alagra · alarag · alargga · alarrga · allarga · alraga · laarga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "agarra" for "alarga" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈɣ̞ara] versus [aˈlaɾɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agarra" or "alarga"?
"agarra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,257 in our Spanish list, against #32,485 for "alarga". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "agarra" and "alarga" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "agarra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alarga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #168,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agarra" and "alarga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alarga vs amarra". 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 #168,331 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