alevsatWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,530
“ale” frequency rank
#4,857
“at” frequency rank
20387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ale at
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. Símbolo tipográfico (@) muy utilizado en informática e internet, en particular como parte de las direcciones de correo electrónico.

Where the eye mixes ale and at

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

3 ch
ale
2 ch
at

Why the eye confuses ale with at

A purely visual mix-up. ale ([ˈeɪ.l̩]) and at ([ˈat̪]) 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 20387, 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]. at is at rank #4,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈat̪].

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 20387, this pair ranks #259,572 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ale vs at

Shared letters: a. Private to "ale": el. Private to "at": t.

"ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "at" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ale" for "at" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeɪ.l̩] versus [ˈat̪]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ale" or "at"?
"at" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,857 in our Spanish list, against #15,530 for "ale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "at" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,572 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ale" and "at" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ale vs alió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #259,572 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