alegarvsalugarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,616
“alegar” frequency rank
#9,951
“alugar” frequency rank
29567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alegar alugar
Definition citar dar de aluguel

Where the eye mixes alegar and alugar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alegar and alugar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
alegar
6 ch
alugar

Why the eye confuses alegar with alugar

A purely visual mix-up. alegar (/ɐ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and alugar (/ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “alegar” becomes u in “alugar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alegar is recorded at frequency rank #19,616, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/. alugar is at rank #9,951, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 29567, this pair ranks #39,016 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alegar vs alugar

Shared letters: aglr. Private to "alegar": e. Private to "alugar": u.

"alegar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "alugar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alegar ← aelgar · aleagr · alegarr · aleggar · alegra · algear · allegar · laegar
  • alugar ← alguar · allugar · aluagr · alugarr · aluggar · alugra · aulgar · laugar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alegar" and "alugar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alegar" or "alugar"?
"alugar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,951 in our Portuguese list, against #19,616 for "alegar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alugar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,016 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alegar" and "alugar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alegar vs alegro". 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 #39,016 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