Which to use
“al” is a contraction and “alió” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21
- “al” frequency rank
- #48,792
- “alió” frequency rank
- 48813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | al | alió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contracción de la preposición a y el artículo el (masculino singular) Forma obligatoriamente contracta; la forma *a el no está aceptada por la Real Academia. Se utiliza para todos los valores de a. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de aliar o de aliarse. |
Where the eye mixes al and alió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. al runs 2 letters (VC) against alió's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses al with alió
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: al is [al] while alió is [aˈljo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “al” sits inside “alió”, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
al is recorded at frequency rank #21, classified as acontraction, pronounced [al]. alió is at rank #48,792, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈljo].
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 48813, this pair ranks #112,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of al vs alió
Shared letters: al. Private to "al": -. Private to "alió": ió.
"al" · 2 letters · shape VC · "alió" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "al" for "alió" ever safe?
Frequency check: "al" vs "alió" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "al" and "alió" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "al" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "al" and "alió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alió vs apis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #112,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.