alla vs altar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“alla” is a contraction and “altar” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,313
“alla” frequency rank: #8,141
“altar” frequency rank: 44454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	alla	altar
Definition	na	estrutura elevada perante a qual cerimônias religiosas são realizadas ou na qual sacrifícios podem ser oferecidos aos deuses, ancestrais, etc

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alla and altar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

alla

5 ch

altar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alla is acontraction and altaranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alla is recorded at frequency rank #36,313, classified as acontraction. altar is at rank #8,141, tagged as anoun.

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 44454, this pair ranks #21,031 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alla vs altar

Shared letters: al. Private to "alla": -. Private to "altar": rt.

"alla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "altar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

alla ← alal · lala
altar ← alatr · alltar · altarr · altra · alttar · atlar · latar

Frequency comparison

alla#36,313

altar#8,141

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alla" and "altar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alla" is a contraction and "altar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "alla" or "altar"?

"altar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,141 in our Portuguese list, against #36,313 for "alla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering alla vs altar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “alla”; for a noun, it's “altar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alla” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable