Which to use
“alimenta” is a verb and “alimento” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,399
- “alimenta” frequency rank
- #5,066
- “alimento” frequency rank
- 14465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alimenta | alimento |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alimentar. | Sustancia normalmente comida o bebida por los seres vivos. Es la principal fuente de energía y nutrición de animales y, generalmente, es de origen animal o vegetal. |
Where the eye mixes alimenta and alimento
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alimenta and alimento follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: alimenta vs alimento
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alimenta is [aliˈmẽn̪t̪a] while alimento is [aliˈmẽn̪t̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “alimenta” becomes o in “alimento”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alimenta is recorded at frequency rank #9,399, classified as averb, pronounced [aliˈmẽn̪t̪a]. alimento is at rank #5,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aliˈmẽn̪t̪o].
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 14465, this pair ranks #284,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alimenta vs alimento
Shared letters: aeilmnt. Private to "alimenta": -. Private to "alimento": o.
"alimenta" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV · "alimento" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "alimenta" for "alimento" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alimenta" or "alimento" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "alimenta" and "alimento" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "alimenta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alimento" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #284,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alimenta" and "alimento" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alientan vs alimenta". 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 #284,006 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.