alcaldesvsalcaldíaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,484
“alcaldes” frequency rank
#6,378
“alcaldía” frequency rank
12862
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alcaldes alcaldía
Definition Forma del plural de alcalde. El cargo del alcalde.

Where the eye mixes alcaldes and alcaldía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. alcaldes (VCCVCCVC) and alcaldía (VCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
alcaldes
8 ch
alcaldía

Visual trap between alcaldes and alcaldía

A purely visual mix-up. alcaldes ([alˈkal̪d̪es]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alcaldes is recorded at frequency rank #6,484, classified as anoun, pronounced [alˈkal̪d̪es]. 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 12862, this pair ranks #289,984 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alcaldes vs alcaldía

Shared letters: acdl. Private to "alcaldes": es. Private to "alcaldía": í.

"alcaldes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "alcaldía" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alcaldes ← aclaldes · alacldes · alcadles · alcalddes · alcaldess · alcaldse · alcaleds · alcalldes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alcaldes" and "alcaldía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([alˈkal̪d̪es] versus [alkal̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alcaldes" vs "alcaldía" - which ranks higher?
"alcaldía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,378 in our Spanish list, against #6,484 for "alcaldes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alcaldes" 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 #289,984 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alcaldes" 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 #289,984 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