alabó vs alto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“alabó” is a verb and “alto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,402
“alabó” frequency rank: #413
“alto” frequency rank: 33815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	alabó	alto
Definition	Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de alabar.	Levantado, elevado sobre la tierra.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alabó and alto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

alabó

4 ch

alto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alabó is [alaˈβ̞o] while alto is [ˈal̪t̪o]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alabó is recorded at frequency rank #33,402, classified as averb, pronounced [alaˈβ̞o]. alto is at rank #413, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈal̪t̪o].

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 33815, this pair ranks #194,748 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alabó vs alto

Shared letters: al. Private to "alabó": bó. Private to "alto": ot.

"alabó" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "alto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

alto ← allto · alot · altto · atlo · lato

Frequency comparison

alabó#33,402

alto#413

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alabó" and "alto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alabó" is a verb and "alto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "alabó" or "alto"?

"alto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #413 in our Spanish list, against #33,402 for "alabó". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering alabó vs alto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “alabó”; for an adjective, it's “alto”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alabó” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable