AlanvsalôWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Alan is a noun, alô is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Alan” is a noun and “alô” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,247
“Alan” frequency rank
#4,874
“alô” frequency rank
8121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Alan alô
Definition prenome masculino lá, alá, podendo indicar um lugar, um tempo, mais afastado que lá

Letter map: Alan vs alô

Shared letters muted; letters that set Alan and alô apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Alan
3 ch
alô

Role in the sentence - Alan and alô

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Alan is anoun and alôanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alan is recorded at frequency rank #3,247, classified as anoun. alô is at rank #4,874, tagged as anadv.

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 8121, this pair ranks #65,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Alan vs alô

Shared letters: al. Private to "Alan": n. Private to "alô": ô.

"Alan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "alô" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Alanaaln · alann · alna · laan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Alan" and "alô" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Alan" is a noun and "alô" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Alan" or "alô"?
"Alan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,247 in our Portuguese list, against #4,874 for "alô". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "Alan" vs "alô" 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 "alô" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Alan" and "alô" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs alô". 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 #65,771 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