alavsalióWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ala is a noun, alió is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ala” is a noun and “alió” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,894
“ala” frequency rank
#48,792
“alió” frequency rank
52686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ala alió
Definition Las alas son extremidades o apéndices que poseen algunos grupos de animales, normalmente utilizan estas alas para poder volar. 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 ala and alió

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ala runs 3 letters (VCV) against alió's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ala
4 ch
alió

Visual trap between ala and alió

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ala is [ˈala] while alió is [aˈljo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ala is recorded at frequency rank #3,894, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈala]. 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 52686, this pair ranks #91,527 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ala vs alió

Shared letters: al. Private to "ala": -. Private to "alió": ió.

"ala" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "alió" · 4 letters · shape VCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ala" for "alió" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ala" is a noun and "alió" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ala" vs "alió" - which ranks higher?
"ala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,894 in our Spanish list, against #48,792 for "alió". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ala" 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 #91,527 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ala" and "alió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alió vs apis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #91,527 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