alcevsaltaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alce is a noun, alta is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#48,754
“alce” frequency rank
#818
“alta” frequency rank
49572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce alta
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.] alto, elevado

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
alce
4 ch
alta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alce is /ˈaɫ.sɨ/ while alta is /ˈal.ta/.. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49572, 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/. alta is at rank #818, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈal.ta/..

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 49572, this pair ranks #15,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs alta

Shared letters: al. Private to "alce": ce. Private to "alta": t.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "alta" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alcealcce · alec · allce · lace
  • altaalat · allta · altta · atla

Frequency comparison

alce#48,754
alta#818

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alce" and "alta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alce" is a noun and "alta" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alce" or "alta"?
"alta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #818 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 alta

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “alce”; for an adjective, it's “alta”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list