alcevsalgaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,936
“alce” frequency rank
#34,872
“alga” frequency rank
72808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce alga
Definition (Alces alces) Especie de mamífero artiodáctilo de la familia de los cérvidos. Habitante original de los bosques nórdicos de Europa y Asia. Es cazado especialmente por su carne, la piel y los huesos, así como por deporte. Pueden pesar de 350 hasta 450 kg y tener una altura de 1,50 a 2,15 m. La diferenciación de machos y hembras solo es notada en la falta de astas ya que sus alturas son relativamente iguales. Organismo acuático autótrofo —es decir, capaz de fotosíntesis—, sea procarionte o eucarionte. No forman un grupo taxonómico homogéneo, comprendiendo desde organismos unicelulares muy sencillos hasta enormes colonias de decenas de metros de longitud. Se clasifican en al menos nueve filos, de uno de los cuales proceden evolutivamente las plantas propiamente dichas.

Where the eye mixes alce and alga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alce and alga follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
alce
4 ch
alga

Why the eye confuses alce with alga

A purely visual mix-up. alce ([ˈalse]) and alga ([ˈalɣ̞a]) 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 72808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alce is recorded at frequency rank #37,936, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈalse]. alga is at rank #34,872, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈalɣ̞a].

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 72808, this pair ranks #24,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs alga

Shared letters: al. Private to "alce": ce. Private to "alga": g.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "alga" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alce ← acle · alcce · alec · allce · alse · lace
  • alga ← alag · algga · allga · laga

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alce" and "alga" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈalse] versus [ˈalɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alce" vs "alga" - which ranks higher?
"alga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,872 in our Spanish list, against #37,936 for "alce". 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 "alce" and "alga" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,618 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alce" and "alga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alce vs alió". 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 #24,618 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