alla vs allen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“alla” is a determiner and “allen” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,004
“alla” frequency rank: #276
“allen” frequency rank: 23280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	alla	allen
Definition	Zusammensetzung der Präposition a und dem Artikel la	Dativ Plural des Indefinitpronomens all

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

alla

5 ch

allen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alla is adeterminer and allenanunknown. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alla is recorded at frequency rank #23,004, classified as adet, pronounced […]. allen is at rank #276, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈalən].

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 23280, this pair ranks #1,863,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alla vs allen

Shared letters: al. Private to "alla": -. Private to "allen": en.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

alla ← alal
allen ← aleln · alen · allenn · allne · lalen

Frequency comparison

alla#23,004

allen#276

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alla" is a determiner and "allen" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"allen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #276 in our German list, against #23,004 for "alla". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering alla vs allen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “alla”; for an unknown, it's “allen”.
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