alargavsalargarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,485
“alarga” frequency rank
#22,563
“alargar” frequency rank
55048
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alarga alargar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alargar. Dar más longitud a una cosa.

Where the eye mixes alarga and alargar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
alarga
7 ch
alargar

Look-alike desk: alarga vs alargar

A purely visual mix-up. alarga ([aˈlaɾɣ̞a]) and alargar ([alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “alarga” sits inside “alargar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alarga is recorded at frequency rank #32,485, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈlaɾɣ̞a]. alargar is at rank #22,563, tagged as averb, pronounced [alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ].

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 55048, this pair ranks #80,631 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alarga vs alargar

Shared letters: aglr. Private to "alarga": -. Private to "alargar": -.

"alarga" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "alargar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alargaaalrga · alagra · alarag · alargga · alarrga · allarga · alraga · laarga
  • alargaraalrgar · alagrar · alaragr · alargarr · alarggar · alargra · alarrgar · allargar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alarga" for "alargar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈlaɾɣ̞a] versus [alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alarga" or "alargar"?
"alargar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,563 in our Spanish list, against #32,485 for "alarga". 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 "alarga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alargar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,631 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alarga" and "alargar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alarga vs amarra". 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 #80,631 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