alívsasíConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,257
“alí” frequency rank
#55
“así” frequency rank
16312
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alí así
Definition Allí. De este modo o forma.

Where the eye mixes alí and así

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
alí
3 ch
así

Visual trap between alí and así

A purely visual mix-up. alí ([aˈli]) and así ([aˈsi]) 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 a single letter - l in “alí” becomes s in “así”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alí is recorded at frequency rank #16,257, classified as anadv, pronounced [aˈli]. así is at rank #55, tagged as anadv, pronounced [aˈsi].

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 16312, this pair ranks #276,695 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alí vs así

Shared letters: . Private to "alí": l. Private to "así": s.

"alí" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "así" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alí" for "así" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈli] versus [aˈsi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alí" vs "así" - which ranks higher?
"así" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #55 in our Spanish list, against #16,257 for "alí". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "alí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "así" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,695 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alí" and "así" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alí vs apis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #276,695 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