alcanzarvsalcanzaráWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,835
“alcanzar” frequency rank
#23,657
“alcanzará” frequency rank
25492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alcanzar alcanzará
Definition Avanzar y llegar hasta algo o alguien que va adelante, física o figuradamente. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de alcanzar o de alcanzarse.

Where the eye mixes alcanzar and alcanzará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. alcanzar runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against alcanzará's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
alcanzar
9 ch
alcanzará

Why the eye confuses alcanzar with alcanzará

A purely visual mix-up. alcanzar ([alkãnˈsaɾ]) and alcanzará ([alkãnsaˈɾa]) 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) - “alcanzar” sits inside “alcanzará”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alcanzar is recorded at frequency rank #1,835, classified as averb, pronounced [alkãnˈsaɾ]. alcanzará is at rank #23,657, tagged as averb, pronounced [alkãnsaˈɾa].

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 25492, this pair ranks #236,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alcanzar vs alcanzará

Shared letters: aclnrz. Private to "alcanzar": -. Private to "alcanzará": á.

"alcanzar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "alcanzará" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alcanzaraclanzar · alacnzar · alcanazr · alcannzar · alcanzarr · alcanzra · alcanzzar · alcaznar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alcanzar" for "alcanzará" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([alkãnˈsaɾ] versus [alkãnsaˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alcanzar" or "alcanzará" show up more?
"alcanzar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,835 in our Spanish list, against #23,657 for "alcanzará". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alcanzar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alcanzará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alcanzar" and "alcanzará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alcanzará vs alcanzas". 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 #236,192 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