alquilavsalquilarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,296
“alquila” frequency rank
#10,966
“alquilar” frequency rank
34262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alquila alquilar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alquilar. Pactar la cesión de derechos sobre un bien o servicio de manera temporal a cambio de un pago regular.

Where the eye mixes alquila and alquilar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alquila runs 7 letters (VCCVVCV) against alquilar's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
alquila
8 ch
alquilar

Look-alike desk: alquila vs alquilar

A purely visual mix-up. alquila ([alˈkila]) and alquilar ([alkiˈlaɾ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “alquila” sits inside “alquilar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alquila is recorded at frequency rank #23,296, classified as averb, pronounced [alˈkila]. alquilar is at rank #10,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [alkiˈlaɾ].

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 34262, this pair ranks #192,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alquila vs alquilar

Shared letters: ailqu. Private to "alquila": -. Private to "alquilar": r.

"alquila" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "alquilar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alquilaallquila · alqiula · alqquila · alquial · alquilla · alqulia · aluqila · aqluila
  • alquilarallquilar · alqiular · alqquilar · alquialr · alquilarr · alquillar · alquilra · alquliar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alquila" and "alquilar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([alˈkila] versus [alkiˈlaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alquila" or "alquilar" show up more?
"alquilar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,966 in our Spanish list, against #23,296 for "alquila". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "alquila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alquilar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alquila" and "alquilar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alquila vs aquila". 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 #192,393 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