alinharvsalistarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,073
“alinhar” frequency rank
#29,214
“alistar” frequency rank
50287
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alinhar alistar
Definition dispor em linha reta pôr em lista

Where the eye mixes alinhar and alistar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
alinhar
7 ch
alistar

Why the eye confuses alinhar with alistar

A purely visual mix-up. alinhar (/a.li.'ɲaχ/, /a.li.'ɲaː/) and alistar (/ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 50287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alinhar is recorded at frequency rank #21,073, classified as averb, pronounced /a.li.'ɲaχ/, /a.li.'ɲaː/. alistar is at rank #29,214, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 50287, this pair ranks #14,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alinhar vs alistar

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "alinhar": hn. Private to "alistar": st.

"alinhar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "alistar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alinharailnhar · alihnar · alinahr · alinharr · alinhhar · alinhra · alinnhar · allinhar
  • alistarailstar · alisatr · alisstar · alistarr · alistra · alisttar · alitsar · allistar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alinhar" and "alistar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/a.li.'ɲaχ/, /a.li.'ɲaː/ versus /ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alinhar" or "alistar" show up more?
"alinhar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,073 in our Portuguese list, against #29,214 for "alistar". 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 "alinhar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alistar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alinhar" and "alistar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alastrar vs alistar". 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 #14,690 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