alegarvsapagarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,616
“alegar” frequency rank
#4,285
“apagar” frequency rank
23901
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alegar apagar
Definition citar fazer desaparecer (raspando, etc.)

Letter map: alegar vs apagar

Shared letters muted; letters that set alegar and apagar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. alegar and apagar 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
apagar

Spelling & dictionary notes on alegar vs apagar

alegar and apagar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23901, 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/. apagar is at rank #4,285, tagged as averb.

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 23901, this pair ranks #45,836 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alegar vs apagar

Shared letters: agr. Private to "alegar": el. Private to "apagar": p.

"alegar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apagar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alegar ← aelgar · aleagr · alegarr · aleggar · alegra · algear · allegar · laegar
  • apagar ← aapgar · apaagr · apagarr · apaggar · apagra · apgaar · appagar · paagar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alegar" for "apagar" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "alegar" vs "apagar" - which ranks higher?
"apagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,285 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "alegar" and "apagar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "alegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,836 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alegar" and "apagar" 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 #45,836 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