aludevsardeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,003
“alude” frequency rank
#13,394
“arde” frequency rank
28397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alude arde
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aludir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de arder.

Where the eye mixes alude and arde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
alude
4 ch
arde

Why the eye confuses alude with arde

A purely visual mix-up. alude ([aˈluð̞e]) and arde ([ˈaɾð̞e]) 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 28397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alude is recorded at frequency rank #15,003, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈluð̞e]. arde is at rank #13,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɾð̞e].

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 28397, this pair ranks #222,225 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alude vs arde

Shared letters: ade. Private to "alude": lu. Private to "arde": r.

"alude" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "arde" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aludealdue · allude · aludde · alued · aulde
  • ardeadre · ardde · ared · arrde · rade

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alude" for "arde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈluð̞e] versus [ˈaɾð̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alude" vs "arde" - which ranks higher?
"arde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,394 in our Spanish list, against #15,003 for "alude". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "alude" and "arde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alude" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,225 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alude" and "arde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acudí vs alude". 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 #222,225 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