alegadovsalteradoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,937
“alegado” frequency rank
#15,535
“alterado” frequency rank
53472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alegado alterado
Definition Participio de alegar. Participio de alterar o de alterarse.

Where the eye mixes alegado and alterado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. alegado runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against alterado's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
alegado
8 ch
alterado

Why the eye confuses alegado with alterado

A purely visual mix-up. alegado ([aleˈɣ̞að̞o]) and alterado ([al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o]) 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 53472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alegado is recorded at frequency rank #37,937, classified as averb, pronounced [aleˈɣ̞að̞o]. alterado is at rank #15,535, tagged as averb, pronounced [al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o].

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 53472, this pair ranks #87,705 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alegado vs alterado

Shared letters: adelo. Private to "alegado": g. Private to "alterado": rt.

"alegado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "alterado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alegado ← aelgado · aleagdo · alegaddo · alegaod · alegdao · aleggado · algeado · allegado
  • alterado ← aletrado · allterado · alteardo · alteraddo · alteraod · alterdao · alterrado · altreado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alegado" for "alterado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aleˈɣ̞að̞o] versus [al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alegado" vs "alterado" - which ranks higher?
"alterado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,535 in our Spanish list, against #37,937 for "alegado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "alegado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alterado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,705 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alegado" and "alterado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alegado vs apenado". 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 #87,705 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