Which to use
“Allah” is a name and “allem” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,994
- “Allah” frequency rank
- #239
- “allem” frequency rank
- 11233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Allah | allem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Name Gottes | maskuliner und neutraler Dativ Singular des Indefinitpronomens alle |
Where the eye mixes Allah and allem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Allah and allem follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Allah and allem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Allah is [ˈala] while allem is [ˈaləm]. 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 (name vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Allah is recorded at frequency rank #10,994, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈala]. allem is at rank #239, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈaləm].
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 11233, this pair ranks #1,970,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Allah vs allem
Shared letters: al. Private to "Allah": h. Private to "allem": em.
"Allah" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "allem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Allah" for "allem" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Allah" or "allem" show up more?
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 "Allah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,970,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Allah" and "allem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Allah vs Altach". 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 #1,970,951 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.