alcevsallíWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alce is a noun, allí is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alce” is a noun and “allí” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,936
“alce” frequency rank
#453
“allí” frequency rank
38389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce allí
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. Indica un lugar alejado de quienes hablan o se comunican.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alce and allí apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
alce
4 ch
allí

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alce is [ˈalse] while allí is [aˈʝi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38389, 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]. allí is at rank #453, tagged as anadv, pronounced [aˈʝi].

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 38389, this pair ranks #170,284 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs allí

Shared letters: al. Private to "alce": ce. Private to "allí": í.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "allí" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alceacle · alcce · alec · allce · alse · lace

Frequency comparison

alce#37,936
allí#453

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alce" and "allí" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alce" is a noun and "allí" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alce" or "allí"?
"allí" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #453 in our Spanish list, against #37,936 for "alce". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering alce vs allí

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “alce”; for an adverb, it's “allí”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alce” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list