alavsavelãTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,137
“ala” frequency rank
#35,019
“avelã” frequency rank
41156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ala avelã
Definition conjunto de objetos dispostos de maneira a formar uma linha fruta gerada pela avelãzeira, avelaneira ou aveleira, (Corylus avellana)

Where the eye mixes ala and avelã

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ala runs 3 letters (VCV) against avelã's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ala
5 ch
avelã

Why the eye confuses ala with avelã

A purely visual mix-up. ala (/ˈa.lɐ/) and avelã (/ɐ.vɨ.ˈlɐ̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41156, 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/. avelã is at rank #35,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.vɨ.ˈlɐ̃/.

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 41156, this pair ranks #24,822 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ala vs avelã

Shared letters: al. Private to "ala": -. Private to "avelã": evã.

"ala" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "avelã" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ala" and "avelã" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.lɐ/ versus /ɐ.vɨ.ˈlɐ̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ala" or "avelã"?
"ala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,137 in our Portuguese list, against #35,019 for "avelã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "avelã" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,822 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ala" and "avelã" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ateia vs avelã". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #24,822 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