alce vs alô, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#48,754
“alce” frequency rank: #4,874
“alô” frequency rank: 53628
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	alce	alô
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.]	lá, alá, podendo indicar um lugar, um tempo, mais afastado que lá

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alce and alô apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

alce

3 ch

alô

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alce is anoun and alôanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53628, 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/. 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 53628, this pair ranks #11,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs alô

Shared letters: al. Private to "alce": ce. Private to "alô": ô.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "alô" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

alce ← alcce · alec · allce · lace

Frequency comparison

alce#48,754

alô#4,874

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alce" and "alô" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alce" is a noun and "alô" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "alce" or "alô"?

"alô" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,874 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.

Remembering alce vs alô

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “alce”; for an adverb, it's “alô”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alce” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable