alcevsallaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: alce is a noun, alla is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alce” is a noun and “alla” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,754
“alce” frequency rank
#36,313
“alla” frequency rank
85067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce alla
Definition 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.] na

Letter map: alce vs alla

Shared letters muted; letters that set alce and alla apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. alce and alla follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
alce
4 ch
alla

Role in the sentence - alce and alla

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alce is anoun and allaacontraction. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alce is recorded at frequency rank #48,754, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɫ.sɨ/. alla is at rank #36,313, tagged as acontraction.

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 85067, this pair ranks #723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs alla

Shared letters: al. Private to "alce": ce. Private to "alla": -.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "alla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alce ← alcce · alec · allce · lace
  • alla ← alal · lala

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alce" and "alla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alce" is a noun and "alla" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "alce" vs "alla" - which ranks higher?
"alla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,313 in our Portuguese list, against #48,754 for "alce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "alce" and "alla". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alce" and "alla" 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 #723 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