alcevsápiceTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,936
“alce” frequency rank
#18,127
“ápice” frequency rank
56063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce ápice
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. Extremo superior o punta de alguna cosa.

Where the eye mixes alce and ápice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alce runs 4 letters (VCCV) against ápice's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
alce
5 ch
ápice

Look-alike desk: alce vs ápice

A purely visual mix-up. alce ([ˈalse]) and ápice ([ˈapise]) 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 56063, 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]. ápice is at rank #18,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈapise].

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 56063, this pair ranks #76,178 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs ápice

Shared letters: ce. Private to "alce": al. Private to "ápice": ipá.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ápice" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alce" for "ápice" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈalse] versus [ˈapise]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alce" or "ápice" show up more?
"ápice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,127 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ápice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,178 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alce" and "ápice" 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 #76,178 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