alevsaúnWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#15,530
“ale” frequency rank
#240
“aún” frequency rank
15770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ale aún
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. Indica que el hecho persiste en el presente, aunque pueda cambiar en lo sucesivo..

Where the eye mixes ale and aún

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

3 ch
ale
3 ch
aún

Look-alike desk: ale vs aún

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ale is [ˈeɪ.l̩] while aún is [aˈũn]. 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 15770, 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]. aún is at rank #240, tagged as anadv, pronounced [aˈũn].

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 15770, this pair ranks #278,860 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ale vs aún

Shared letters: a. Private to "ale": el. Private to "aún": .

"ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aún" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ale" and "aún" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ale" is a noun and "aún" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ale" or "aún"?
"aún" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aún" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,860 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ale" and "aún" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ale vs alió". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #278,860 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