altavsasaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#667
“alta” frequency rank
#18,157
“asa” frequency rank
18824
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alta asa
Definition En los hospitales, orden informada al enfermo a quien se da por sano, para regresar a su vida normal. Proyección, generalmente curva, en el costado de un recipiente, por la cual este puede asirse.

Where the eye mixes alta and asa

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

4 ch
alta
3 ch
asa

Visual trap between alta and asa

A purely visual mix-up. alta ([ˈal̪t̪a]) and asa ([ˈasa]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alta is recorded at frequency rank #667, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈal̪t̪a]. asa is at rank #18,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈasa].

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 18824, this pair ranks #266,313 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alta vs asa

Shared letters: a. Private to "alta": lt. Private to "asa": s.

"alta" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "asa" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • altaalat · allta · altta · atla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alta" and "asa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈal̪t̪a] versus [ˈasa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alta" vs "asa" - which ranks higher?
"alta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #667 in our Spanish list, against #18,157 for "asa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,313 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alta" and "asa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anta vs asa". 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 #266,313 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