alióvsalmaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alió is a verb, alma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alió” is a verb and “alma” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,792
“alió” frequency rank
#1,008
“alma” frequency rank
49800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alió alma
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de aliar o de aliarse. Supuesta esencia inmaterial de una persona o de un animal.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alió and alma apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
alió
4 ch
alma

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alió is [aˈljo] while alma is [ˈalma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alió is recorded at frequency rank #48,792, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈljo]. alma is at rank #1,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈalma].

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 49800, this pair ranks #106,757 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alió vs alma

Shared letters: al. Private to "alió": . Private to "alma": m.

"alió" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "alma" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • almaalam · allma · almma

Frequency comparison

alió#48,792
alma#1,008

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alió" and "alma" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alió" is a verb and "alma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alió" or "alma"?
"alma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,008 in our Spanish list, against #48,792 for "alió". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering alió vs alma

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “alió”; for a noun, it's “alma”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alió” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list