albercavsalberganWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: alberca is a noun, albergan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alberca” is a noun and “albergan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,686
“alberca” frequency rank
#29,019
“albergan” frequency rank
55705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alberca albergan
Definition Es una construcción excavada en la tierra, fabricada a base de ladrillo, tapial o mampostería en forma de estanque para almacenar agua, usualmente para el riego. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de albergar o de albergarse.

Where the eye mixes alberca and albergan

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

7 ch
alberca
8 ch
albergan

Why the eye confuses alberca with albergan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alberca is [alˈβ̞eɾka] while albergan is [alˈβ̞eɾɣ̞ãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alberca is recorded at frequency rank #26,686, classified as anoun, pronounced [alˈβ̞eɾka]. albergan is at rank #29,019, tagged as averb, pronounced [alˈβ̞eɾɣ̞ãn].

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 55705, this pair ranks #77,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alberca vs albergan

Shared letters: abelr. Private to "alberca": c. Private to "albergan": gn.

"alberca" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "albergan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • albercaablerca · albberca · albecra · alberac · albercca · alberrca · albreca · alebrca
  • alberganablergan · albbergan · albegran · alberagn · albergann · alberggan · albergna · alberrgan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alberca" and "albergan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alberca" is a noun and "albergan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "alberca" vs "albergan" - which ranks higher?
"alberca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,686 in our Spanish list, against #29,019 for "albergan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alberca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "albergan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alberca" and "albergan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "albergan vs albergó". 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 #77,728 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