alavsalceTell them apart

Which to use

“ala” and “alce” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,137
“ala” frequency rank
#48,754
“alce” frequency rank
54891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ala alce
Definition conjunto de objetos dispostos de maneira a formar uma linha mamífero artiodáctilo da família dos cervídeos (Alces alces), que ocorre nas regiões frias ao norte do hemisfério norte; de pelagem escura, ponta do focinho larga e arqueada e grande galhada espalmada, com numerosas pontas, presente somente nos machos [É o maior dos cervídeos, alcançando até 3 m de comprimento.]

Where the eye mixes ala and alce

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ala runs 3 letters (VCV) against alce's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ala
4 ch
alce

Visual trap between ala and alce

A purely visual mix-up. ala (/ˈa.lɐ/) and alce (/ˈaɫ.sɨ/) 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 54891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ala is recorded at frequency rank #6,137, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.lɐ/. alce is at rank #48,754, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɫ.sɨ/.

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 54891, this pair ranks #10,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ala vs alce

Shared letters: al. Private to "ala": -. Private to "alce": ce.

"ala" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alce ← alcce · alec · allce · lace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ala" and "alce" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.lɐ/ versus /ˈaɫ.sɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ala" vs "alce" - which ranks higher?
"ala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,137 in our Portuguese list, against #48,754 for "alce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ala" and "alce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs alce". 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 #10,960 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