Which to use
“alta” is an adjective and “ath” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,803
- “alta” frequency rank
- #31,830
- “ath” frequency rank
- 67633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alta | ath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de alto. | Contraction de la préposition a et de l'article défini eth. |
Where the eye mixes alta and ath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses alta with ath
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alta is \ˈal.ta\ while ath is \at\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alta is recorded at frequency rank #35,803, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈal.ta\. ath is at rank #31,830, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \at\.
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 67633, this pair ranks #62,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of alta vs ath
Shared letters: at. Private to "alta": l. Private to "ath": h.
"alta" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ath" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- alta ← alat · allta · altta · atla · lata
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "alta" and "ath" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "alta" or "ath"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "alta" and "ath" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "alta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alta" and "ath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alta vs arti". 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 #62,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.