allenvsallerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: allen is a unknown, aller is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#276
“allen” frequency rank
#425
“aller” frequency rank
701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allen aller
Definition Dativ Plural des Indefinitpronomens all maskuline Singularform, Nominativ; feminine Singularform, Genitiv und Dativ; Pluralform, Genitiv des Indefinitpronomens all

Where the eye mixes allen and aller

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
allen
5 ch
aller

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allen is [ˈalən] while aller is [ˈalɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “allen” becomes r in “aller”, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allen is recorded at frequency rank #276, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈalən]. aller is at rank #425, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈalɐ].

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 701, this pair ranks #2,005,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allen vs aller

Shared letters: ael. Private to "allen": n. Private to "aller": r.

"allen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "aller" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allenaleln · alen · allenn · allne · lalen
  • alleralelr · aler · allerr · allre · laler

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allen" and "aller" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allen" is an unknown and "aller" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "allen" or "aller"?
"allen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #276 in our German list, against #425 for "aller". 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