AlanvsalceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,247
“Alan” frequency rank
#48,754
“alce” frequency rank
52001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Alan alce
Definition prenome masculino 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.]

Letter map: Alan vs alce

Shared letters muted; letters that set Alan and alce apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Alan (VCVC) and alce (VCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Alan
4 ch
alce

Spelling & dictionary notes on Alan vs alce

Alan and alce are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alan is recorded at frequency rank #3,247, classified as anoun. 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 52001, this pair ranks #13,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Alan vs alce

Shared letters: al. Private to "Alan": n. Private to "alce": ce.

"Alan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Alan ← aaln · alann · alna · laan
  • alce ← alcce · alec · allce · lace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Alan" and "alce" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Alan" vs "alce" - which ranks higher?
"Alan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,247 in our Portuguese list, against #48,754 for "alce". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "Alan" vs "alce" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Alan" 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 #13,119 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Alan" 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 #13,119 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