Which to use
“alegar” is a verb and “apesar” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,616
- “alegar” frequency rank
- #404
- “apesar” frequency rank
- 20020
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alegar | apesar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | citar | não obstante |
Where the eye mixes alegar and apesar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. alegar and apesar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between alegar and apesar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alegar is /ɐ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/ while apesar is /ɐ.pe.ˈzaɾ/. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20020, 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/. apesar is at rank #404, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.pe.ˈzaɾ/.
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 20020, this pair ranks #50,593 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alegar vs apesar
Shared letters: aer. Private to "alegar": gl. Private to "apesar": ps.
"alegar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "apesar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alegar" and "apesar" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alegar" or "apesar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "alegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apesar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,593 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alegar" and "apesar" 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 #50,593 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.