allevsALTEWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alle is a adverb, ALTE is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alle” is an adverb and “ALTE” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#80
“alle” frequency rank
#498
“ALTE” frequency rank
578
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alle ALTE
Definition mitteldeutsch und norddeutsch, umgangssprachlich:' leer, nicht mehr vorrätig Apparent Life Threatening Event = anscheinend lebensbedrohliches Ereignis (Bezeichnung eines akuten Zustandes bei Neugeborenen oder Säuglingen mit Apnoe, Zyanose oder Blässe, verändertem Muskeltonus sowie Bradykardie)

Where the eye mixes alle and ALTE

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
alle
4 ch
ALTE

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alle is [ˈalə] while ALTE is [ˈaltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “alle” becomes t in “ALTE”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alle is recorded at frequency rank #80, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈalə]. ALTE is at rank #498, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ˈaltə].

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 578, this pair ranks #2,005,662 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alle vs ALTE

Shared letters: ael. Private to "alle": -. Private to "ALTE": t.

"alle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ALTE" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allealel · lale
  • ALTEalet · allte · altte · atle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alle" and "ALTE" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alle" is an adverb and "ALTE" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alle" or "ALTE"?
"alle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #80 in our German list, against #498 for "ALTE". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list