alejabavsaléjateTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,179
“alejaba” frequency rank
#30,329
“aléjate” frequency rank
71508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alejaba aléjate
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alejar o de alejarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de alejarse (con el pronombre enclítico).

Where the eye mixes alejaba and aléjate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. alejaba and aléjate follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
alejaba
7 ch
aléjate

Why the eye confuses alejaba with aléjate

A purely visual mix-up. alejaba ([aleˈxaβ̞a]) and aléjate ([aˈlexat̪e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alejaba is recorded at frequency rank #41,179, classified as averb, pronounced [aleˈxaβ̞a]. aléjate is at rank #30,329, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈlexat̪e].

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 71508, this pair ranks #27,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alejaba vs aléjate

Shared letters: aejl. Private to "alejaba": b. Private to "aléjate": té.

"alejaba" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "aléjate" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alejaba ← aeljaba · aleajba · alejaab · alejabba · alejava · alejbaa · alejjaba · aljeaba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alejaba" for "aléjate" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aleˈxaβ̞a] versus [aˈlexat̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alejaba" or "aléjate"?
"aléjate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,329 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alejaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aléjate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alejaba" and "aléjate" 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 #27,346 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