allemvsALTEWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#239
“allem” frequency rank
#498
“ALTE” frequency rank
737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allem ALTE
Definition maskuliner und neutraler Dativ Singular des Indefinitpronomens alle 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 allem and ALTE

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

5 ch
allem
4 ch
ALTE

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allem is [ˈaləm] while ALTE is [ˈaltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allem is recorded at frequency rank #239, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈaləm]. 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 737, this pair ranks #2,005,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allem vs ALTE

Shared letters: ael. Private to "allem": m. Private to "ALTE": t.

"allem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "ALTE" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allemalelm · alem · allemm · allme · lalem
  • ALTEalet · allte · altte · atle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allem" and "ALTE" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allem" is an unknown and "ALTE" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "allem" or "ALTE"?
"allem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #239 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.

What to do next

You've compared "allem" and "ALTE". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "allem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ALTE" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "allem" and "ALTE" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ALTE vs Atze". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list