AlejavsalejabaConfusable pair

Quick tell: Aleja is a name, alejaba is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Aleja” is a name and “alejaba” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,443
“Aleja” frequency rank
#41,179
“alejaba” frequency rank
51622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Aleja alejaba
Definition Nombre de pila de mujer. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alejar o de alejarse.

Where the eye mixes Aleja and alejaba

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Aleja runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against alejaba's 7 (VCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Aleja
7 ch
alejaba

Look-alike desk: Aleja vs alejaba

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Aleja is [aˈlexa] while alejaba is [aleˈxaβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Aleja” sits inside “alejaba”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Aleja is recorded at frequency rank #10,443, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈlexa]. alejaba is at rank #41,179, tagged as averb, pronounced [aleˈxaβ̞a].

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 51622, this pair ranks #96,977 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Aleja vs alejaba

Shared letters: aejl. Private to "Aleja": -. Private to "alejaba": b.

"Aleja" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "alejaba" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Aleja ← aelja · aleaj · alejja · aljea · alleja · laeja
  • alejaba ← aeljaba · aleajba · alejaab · alejabba · alejava · alejbaa · alejjaba · aljeaba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Aleja" for "alejaba" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Aleja" is a name and "alejaba" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Aleja" or "alejaba" show up more?
"Aleja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,443 in our Spanish list, against #41,179 for "alejaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Aleja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alejaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,977 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Aleja" and "alejaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alejaba vs alojaba". 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 #96,977 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