Which to use
“alto” is an adjective and “asco” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #516
- “alto” frequency rank
- #37,190
- “asco” frequency rank
- 37706
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alto | asco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | de muita estatura | nojo |
Where the eye mixes alto and asco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alto and asco follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between alto and asco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alto is /ˈaɫ.tu/ while asco is /ˈaʃ.ku/. 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 37706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alto is recorded at frequency rank #516, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈaɫ.tu/. asco is at rank #37,190, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʃ.ku/.
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 37706, this pair ranks #28,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alto vs asco
Shared letters: ao. Private to "alto": lt. Private to "asco": cs.
"alto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "asco" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "alto" for "asco" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alto" or "asco" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "alto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "asco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alto" and "asco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs asco". 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 #28,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.