alcevsapeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,936
“alce” frequency rank
#45,736
“ape” frequency rank
83672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce ape
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. Espalda.

Where the eye mixes alce and ape

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alce runs 4 letters (VCCV) against ape's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
alce
3 ch
ape

Why the eye confuses alce with ape

A purely visual mix-up. alce ([ˈalse]) and ape ([aˈpe]) 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 83672, 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]. ape is at rank #45,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈpe].

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 83672, this pair ranks #7,876 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs ape

Shared letters: ae. Private to "alce": cl. Private to "ape": p.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alce ← acle · alcce · alec · allce · alse · lace

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alce" and "ape" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈalse] versus [aˈpe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alce" or "ape" show up more?
"alce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,936 in our Spanish list, against #45,736 for "ape". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,876 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alce" and "ape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ape vs apis". 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 #7,876 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