Which to use
“alcalde” and “alcaldía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,434
- “alcalde” frequency rank
- #6,378
- “alcaldía” frequency rank
- 7812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alcalde | alcaldía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Persona a cargo de la dirección administrativa o política de un municipio o ciudad. | El cargo del alcalde. |
Where the eye mixes alcalde and alcaldía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. alcalde runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against alcaldía's 8 (VCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses alcalde with alcaldía
A purely visual mix-up. alcalde ([alˈkal̪d̪e]) and alcaldía ([alkal̪ˈd̪ia]) 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 7812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alcalde is recorded at frequency rank #1,434, classified as anoun, pronounced [alˈkal̪d̪e]. alcaldía is at rank #6,378, tagged as anoun, pronounced [alkal̪ˈd̪ia].
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 7812, this pair ranks #306,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alcalde vs alcaldía
Shared letters: acdl. Private to "alcalde": e. Private to "alcaldía": í.
"alcalde" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "alcaldía" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- alcalde ← aclalde · alaclde · alcadle · alcaldde · alcaled · alcallde · alccalde · alclade
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "alcalde" and "alcaldía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alcalde" or "alcaldía" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "alcalde" and "alcaldía" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "alcalde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alcaldía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alcalde" and "alcaldía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alcaldía vs alcalina". 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 #306,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.