alacenavsalmacénWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,239
“alacena” frequency rank
#7,385
“almacén” frequency rank
49624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alacena almacén
Definition Armario hecho en la pared, con puertas y anaqueles, para guardar algunas cosas. Casa o edificio público o particular donde se guardan por junto o se venden cualesquiera géneros, como armas, pertrechos, comestibles, etc.

Where the eye mixes alacena and almacén

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
alacena
7 ch
almacén

Look-alike desk: alacena vs almacén

A purely visual mix-up. alacena ([alaˈsena]) and almacén ([almaˈsẽn]) 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 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alacena is recorded at frequency rank #42,239, classified as anoun, pronounced [alaˈsena]. almacén is at rank #7,385, tagged as anoun, pronounced [almaˈsẽn].

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 49624, this pair ranks #107,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alacena vs almacén

Shared letters: acln. Private to "alacena": e. Private to "almacén": .

"alacena" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "almacén" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alacenaaalcena · alaccena · alacean · alacenna · alacnea · alaecna · alasena · alcaena

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alacena" for "almacén" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([alaˈsena] versus [almaˈsẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alacena" or "almacén"?
"almacén" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,385 in our Spanish list, against #42,239 for "alacena". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "alacena" and "almacén" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alacena" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "almacén" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,778 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alacena" and "almacén" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alacena vs Azucena". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #107,778 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