ach vs alô, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ach” is an intj and “alô” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,212
“ach” frequency rank: #4,874
“alô” frequency rank: 53086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ach	alô
Definition	oh	lá, alá, podendo indicar um lugar, um tempo, mais afastado que lá

Letter map: ach vs alô

Shared letters muted; letters that set ach and alô apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ach (VCC) and alô (VCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch

ach

3 ch

alô

Grammar separator: ach vs alô

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ach is anintj and alôanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ach is recorded at frequency rank #48,212, classified as anintj. alô is at rank #4,874, tagged as anadv.

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 53086, this pair ranks #12,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ach vs alô

Shared letters: a. Private to "ach": ch. Private to "alô": lô.

"ach" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "alô" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ach" and "alô" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ach" is an intj and "alô" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ach" or "alô" show up more?

"alô" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,874 in our Portuguese list, against #48,212 for "ach". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ach" vs "alô" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "ach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "alô" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #12,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ach" and "alô" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ach vs acs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #12,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.