alegravsAlteraTell them apart

Quick tell: alegra is a noun, Altera is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alegra” is a noun and “Altera” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,968
“alegra” frequency rank
#16,752
“Altera” frequency rank
21720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alegra Altera
Definition Especie de barrena para taladrar las bombas. Apellido.

Where the eye mixes alegra and Altera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
alegra
6 ch
Altera

Visual trap between alegra and Altera

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alegra is [aˈleɣ̞ɾa] while Altera is [al̪ˈt̪eɾa]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alegra is recorded at frequency rank #4,968, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈleɣ̞ɾa]. Altera is at rank #16,752, tagged as aname, pronounced [al̪ˈt̪eɾa].

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 21720, this pair ranks #253,637 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alegra vs Altera

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "alegra": g. Private to "Altera": t.

"alegra" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "Altera" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alegraaelgra · aleggra · alegrra · alerga · algera · allegra · laegra
  • Alteraalltera · altear · altrea · alttera · atlera · latera

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alegra" for "Altera" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alegra" is a noun and "Altera" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alegra" or "Altera" show up more?
"alegra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,968 in our Spanish list, against #16,752 for "Altera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alegra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Altera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,637 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alegra" and "Altera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Alberta vs Altera". 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 #253,637 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