alcevsarcoConfusable pair

Which to use

“alce” and “arco” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,754
“alce” frequency rank
#4,287
“arco” frequency rank
53041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alce arco
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.] ente geométrico cuja principal característica é a curva

Where the eye mixes alce and arco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alce and arco 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
arco

Visual trap between alce and arco

A purely visual mix-up. alce (/ˈaɫ.sɨ/) and arco (/ˈaɾ.ku/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53041, 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/. arco is at rank #4,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɾ.ku/.

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 53041, this pair ranks #12,324 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alce vs arco

Shared letters: ac. Private to "alce": el. Private to "arco": or.

"alce" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "arco" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alce ← alcce · alec · allce · lace
  • arco ← arcco · aroc · arrco · raco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alce" and "arco" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaɫ.sɨ/ versus /ˈaɾ.ku/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alce" or "arco"?
"arco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,287 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "alce" and "arco" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,324 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alce" and "arco" 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 #12,324 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