Which to use
“alas” is a noun and “always” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,688
- “alas” frequency rank
- #11,989
- “always” frequency rank
- 29677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alas | always |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | forma plural de ala: | sempre |
Letter map: alas vs always
Shared letters muted; letters that set alas and always apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Part-of-speech tell for alas / always
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alas is anoun and alwaysanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alas is recorded at frequency rank #17,688, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.lɐs/. always is at rank #11,989, 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 29677, this pair ranks #38,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alas vs always
Shared letters: als. Private to "alas": -. Private to "always": wy.
"alas" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "always" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alas" and "always" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "alas" or "always"?
After this comparison
Pair "alas" vs "always" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "alas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "always" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alas" and "always" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs alas". 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 #38,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.