acsvsalWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: acs is a noun, al is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“acs” is a noun and “al” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,775
“acs” frequency rank
#1,002
“al” frequency rank
50777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acs al
Definition olho (órgão da visão) ao (contração da preposição a (Espanhol) e do artigo el (Espanhol)).

Where the eye mixes acs and al

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
acs
2 ch
al

Visual trap between acs and al

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acs is [ats] while al is /al/. 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 (noun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acs is recorded at frequency rank #49,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [ats]. al is at rank #1,002, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /al/.

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 50777, this pair ranks #14,177 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acs vs al

Shared letters: a. Private to "acs": cs. Private to "al": l.

"acs" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "al" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acs" and "al" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acs" is a noun and "al" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "acs" or "al"?
"al" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,002 in our Portuguese list, against #49,775 for "acs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "al" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,177 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acs" and "al" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ASC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #14,177 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list