Which to use
“al” is a contraction and “az” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21
- “al” frequency rank
- #31,221
- “az” frequency rank
- 31242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | al | az |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Poco. |
Where the eye mixes al and az
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses al with az
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: al is [al] while az is [ɑz]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “al” becomes z in “az”, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
al is recorded at frequency rank #21, classified as acontraction, pronounced [al]. az is at rank #31,221, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ɑz].
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 31242, this pair ranks #208,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of al vs az
Shared letters: a. Private to "al": l. Private to "az": z.
"al" · 2 letters · shape VC · "az" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "al" for "az" ever safe?
Frequency check: "al" vs "az" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "al" and "az" 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 "az" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "al" and "az" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atl vs az". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #208,055 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.