alardevsalcaideWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,470
“alarde” frequency rank
#23,655
“alcaide” frequency rank
51125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alarde alcaide
Definition La acción y efecto de ostentar o presumir algo. Funcionario designado por el rey para la defensa de una fortaleza durante el Medioevo.

Where the eye mixes alarde and alcaide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alarde runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against alcaide's 7 (VCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
alarde
7 ch
alcaide

Look-alike desk: alarde vs alcaide

A purely visual mix-up. alarde ([aˈlaɾð̞e]) and alcaide ([alˈkajð̞e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alarde is recorded at frequency rank #27,470, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈlaɾð̞e]. alcaide is at rank #23,655, tagged as anoun, pronounced [alˈkajð̞e].

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 51125, this pair ranks #99,549 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alarde vs alcaide

Shared letters: adel. Private to "alarde": r. Private to "alcaide": ci.

"alarde" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "alcaide" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alarde ← aalrde · aladre · alardde · alared · alarrde · allarde · alrade · laarde
  • alcaide ← aclaide · alacide · alcadie · alcaidde · alcaied · alccaide · alciade · allcaide

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alarde" and "alcaide" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈlaɾð̞e] versus [alˈkajð̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alarde" vs "alcaide" - which ranks higher?
"alcaide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,655 in our Spanish list, against #27,470 for "alarde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alarde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alcaide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,549 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alarde" and "alcaide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alarde vs amarse". 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 #99,549 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