alabóvsapagóWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,402
“alabó” frequency rank
#22,937
“apagó” frequency rank
56339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alabó apagó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de alabar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes alabó and apagó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. alabó and apagó follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
alabó
5 ch
apagó

Look-alike desk: alabó vs apagó

A purely visual mix-up. alabó ([alaˈβ̞o]) and apagó ([apaˈɣ̞o]) 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 56339, 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]. apagó is at rank #22,937, tagged as averb, pronounced [apaˈɣ̞o].

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 56339, this pair ranks #75,021 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alabó vs apagó

Shared letters: aó. Private to "alabó": bl. Private to "apagó": gp.

"alabó" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "apagó" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alabó" and "apagó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([alaˈβ̞o] versus [apaˈɣ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alabó" or "apagó"?
"apagó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,937 in our Spanish list, against #33,402 for "alabó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alabó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apagó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,021 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alabó" and "apagó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alabó vs alió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,021 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