alióvsaltaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#48,792
“alió” frequency rank
#667
“alta” frequency rank
49459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alió alta
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de aliar o de aliarse. En los hospitales, orden informada al enfermo a quien se da por sano, para regresar a su vida normal.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
alió
4 ch
alta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alió is [aˈljo] while alta is [ˈal̪t̪a]. 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 49459, 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]. alta is at rank #667, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈal̪t̪a].

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 49459, this pair ranks #108,754 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alió vs alta

Shared letters: al. Private to "alió": . Private to "alta": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • altaalat · allta · altta · atla

Frequency comparison

alió#48,792
alta#667

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alió" and "alta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alió" is a verb and "alta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alió" or "alta"?
"alta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #667 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 alta

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 “alta”.
  • 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