alevsamoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,530
“ale” frequency rank
#1,233
“amo” frequency rank
16763
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ale amo
Definition Cerveza de cebada, típica de las islas británicas, de color más oscuro, sabor más intenso y mayor graduación alcohólica que la cerveza rubia o lager. Hombre que está a la cabeza o a cargo de algo, especialmente de una casa, hacienda. animal o familia.

Where the eye mixes ale and amo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ale
3 ch
amo

Visual trap between ale and amo

A purely visual mix-up. ale ([ˈeɪ.l̩]) and amo ([ˈamo]) 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 16763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ale is recorded at frequency rank #15,530, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeɪ.l̩]. amo is at rank #1,233, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈamo].

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 16763, this pair ranks #274,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ale vs amo

Shared letters: a. Private to "ale": el. Private to "amo": mo.

"ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "amo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ale" for "amo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeɪ.l̩] versus [ˈamo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ale" or "amo"?
"amo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,233 in our Spanish list, against #15,530 for "ale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ale" and "amo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ale vs alió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #274,854 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