altosvsaptosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,713
“altos” frequency rank
#17,867
“aptos” frequency rank
19580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature altos aptos
Definition Forma del masculino plural de alto. Forma del plural de apto.

Where the eye mixes altos and aptos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
altos
5 ch
aptos

Visual trap between altos and aptos

A purely visual mix-up. altos ([ˈal̪t̪os]) and aptos ([ˈapt̪os]) 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 a single letter - l in “altos” becomes p in “aptos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

altos is recorded at frequency rank #1,713, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈal̪t̪os]. aptos is at rank #17,867, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapt̪os].

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 19580, this pair ranks #263,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of altos vs aptos

Shared letters: aost. Private to "altos": l. Private to "aptos": p.

"altos" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "aptos" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • altosalltos · alots · altoss · altso · alttos · atlos · latos
  • aptosapots · apptos · aptoss · aptso · apttos · atpos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "altos" for "aptos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈal̪t̪os] versus [ˈapt̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "altos" or "aptos"?
"altos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,713 in our Spanish list, against #17,867 for "aptos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "altos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aptos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #263,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "altos" and "aptos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs aptos". 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 #263,134 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