alargarvsamargaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,563
“alargar” frequency rank
#13,388
“amarga” frequency rank
35951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes alargar and amarga

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

7 ch
alargar
6 ch
amarga

Visual trap between alargar and amarga

A purely visual mix-up. alargar ([alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]) and amarga ([aˈmaɾɣ̞a]) 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 35951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alargar is recorded at frequency rank #22,563, classified as averb, pronounced [alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ]. amarga is at rank #13,388, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈmaɾɣ̞a].

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 35951, this pair ranks #183,297 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alargar vs amarga

Shared letters: agr. Private to "alargar": l. Private to "amarga": m.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alargaraalrgar · alagrar · alaragr · alargarr · alarggar · alargra · alarrgar · allargar
  • amargaaamrga · amagra · amarag · amargga · amarrga · ammarga · amraga · maarga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alargar" for "amarga" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([alaɾˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [aˈmaɾɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alargar" vs "amarga" - which ranks higher?
"amarga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,388 in our Spanish list, against #22,563 for "alargar". 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 "alargar" and "amarga" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alargar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amarga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #183,297 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alargar" and "amarga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amarga vs amarras". 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 #183,297 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