alocarvsaltarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: alocar is a verb, altar is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#37,621
“alocar” frequency rank
#8,141
“altar” frequency rank
45762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alocar altar
Definition destinar algo a um fim específico, utilizar estrutura elevada perante a qual cerimônias religiosas são realizadas ou na qual sacrifícios podem ser oferecidos aos deuses, ancestrais, etc

Letter map: alocar vs altar

Shared letters muted; letters that set alocar and altar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
alocar
5 ch
altar

Role in the sentence - alocar and altar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alocar is averb and altaranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alocar is recorded at frequency rank #37,621, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lu.ˈkaɾ/. 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 45762, this pair ranks #19,634 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alocar vs altar

Shared letters: alr. Private to "alocar": co. Private to "altar": t.

"alocar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "altar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alocaralcoar · allocar · aloacr · alocarr · aloccar · alocra · aolcar · laocar
  • altaralatr · alltar · altarr · altra · alttar · atlar · latar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alocar" for "altar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alocar" is a verb and "altar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alocar" or "altar"?
"altar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,141 in our Portuguese list, against #37,621 for "alocar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "alocar" and "altar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "alocar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "altar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,634 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alocar" and "altar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alocar vs aplacar". 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 #19,634 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