allenvsallesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#276
“allen” frequency rank
#97
“alles” frequency rank
373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allen alles
Definition Dativ Plural des Indefinitpronomens all Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens all

Where the eye mixes allen and alles

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

5 ch
allen
5 ch
alles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allen is [ˈalən] while alles is [ˈaləs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “allen” becomes s in “alles”, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allen is recorded at frequency rank #276, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈalən]. alles is at rank #97, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈaləs].

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 373, this pair ranks #2,005,929 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allen vs alles

Shared letters: ael. Private to "allen": n. Private to "alles": s.

"allen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "alles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allenaleln · alen · allenn · allne · lalen
  • allesalels · ales · alless · allse · lales

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allen" and "alles" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allen" is an unknown and "alles" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "allen" or "alles"?
"alles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 in our German list, against #276 for "allen". 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