Which to use
“acne” and “ale” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,830
- “acne” frequency rank
- #17,419
- “ale” frequency rank
- 50249
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acne | ale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | condição que consiste em erupções da pele causadas por inflamações e acúmulo de secreção | reflexo da lua na água |
Where the eye mixes acne and ale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses acne with ale
A purely visual mix-up. acne (/ˈak.nɨ/) and ale (/a.ˈle/) 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 50249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acne is recorded at frequency rank #32,830, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈak.nɨ/. ale is at rank #17,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈle/.
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 50249, this pair ranks #14,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of acne vs ale
Shared letters: ae. Private to "acne": cn. Private to "ale": l.
"acne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- acne ← accne · acen · acnne · ance · cane
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "acne" and "ale" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "acne" or "ale"?
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 "acne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acne" and "ale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acne vs acs". 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 #14,733 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.