alegrarsevsalejarseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#36,912
“alegrarse” frequency rank
#10,096
“alejarse” frequency rank
47008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alegrarse alejarse
Definition Felicitarse, congratularse, etc. por algo bueno. Tomar distancia, ponerse lejos o más lejos.

Where the eye mixes alegrarse and alejarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alegrarse runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCCV) against alejarse's 8 (VCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
alegrarse
8 ch
alejarse

Look-alike desk: alegrarse vs alejarse

A purely visual mix-up. alegrarse ([aleˈɣ̞ɾaɾse]) and alejarse ([aleˈxaɾse]) 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 47008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alegrarse is recorded at frequency rank #36,912, classified as averb, pronounced [aleˈɣ̞ɾaɾse]. alejarse is at rank #10,096, tagged as averb, pronounced [aleˈxaɾse].

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 47008, this pair ranks #122,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alegrarse vs alejarse

Shared letters: aelrs. Private to "alegrarse": g. Private to "alejarse": j.

"alegrarse" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "alejarse" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alegrarse ← aelgrarse · alegarrse · aleggrarse · alegrarce · alegrares · alegrarrse · alegrarsse · alegrasre
  • alejarse ← aeljarse · aleajrse · alejarce · alejares · alejarrse · alejarsse · alejasre · alejjarse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alegrarse" and "alejarse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aleˈɣ̞ɾaɾse] versus [aleˈxaɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alegrarse" vs "alejarse" - which ranks higher?
"alejarse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,096 in our Spanish list, against #36,912 for "alegrarse". 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 "alegrarse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alejarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alegrarse" and "alejarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alegraría vs alegrarse". 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 #122,496 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