alavsavalTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,137
“ala” frequency rank
#16,685
“aval” frequency rank
22822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ala aval
Definition conjunto de objetos dispostos de maneira a formar uma linha garantia de pagamento de um determinado título de crédito

Where the eye mixes ala and aval

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ala
4 ch
aval

Why the eye confuses ala with aval

A purely visual mix-up. ala (/ˈa.lɐ/) and aval (/ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) 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 22822, 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/. aval is at rank #16,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/.

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 22822, this pair ranks #47,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ala vs aval

Shared letters: al. Private to "ala": -. Private to "aval": v.

"ala" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aval" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avalaavl · avall · avval

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ala" and "aval" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.lɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ala" or "aval"?
"ala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,137 in our Portuguese list, against #16,685 for "aval". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aval" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ala" and "aval" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs aval". 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 #47,134 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