alt vs are, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“alt” is an adjective and “are” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,650
“alt” frequency rank: #4,038
“are” frequency rank: 25688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	alt	are
Definition	velho	unidade de medida de área equivalente a 100 metros quadrados

Where the eye mixes alt and are

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

alt

3 ch

are

Look-alike desk: alt vs are

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alt is /alt/ while are is /ˈa.ɾe/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alt is recorded at frequency rank #21,650, classified as anadj, pronounced /alt/. are is at rank #4,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾe/.

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 25688, this pair ranks #43,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alt vs are

Shared letters: a. Private to "alt": lt. Private to "are": er.

"alt" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alt" and "are" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "alt" or "are"?

"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,038 in our Portuguese list, against #21,650 for "alt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "alt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #43,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"alt" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs alt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #43,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.