allenvsAllsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#276
“allen” frequency rank
#40,369
“Alls” frequency rank
40645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allen Alls
Definition Dativ Plural des Indefinitpronomens all Genitiv Singular des Substantivs All

Where the eye mixes allen and Alls

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

5 ch
allen
4 ch
Alls

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allen is [ˈalən] while Alls is [als]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allen is recorded at frequency rank #276, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈalən]. Alls is at rank #40,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced [als].

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 40645, this pair ranks #1,502,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of allen vs Alls

Shared letters: al. Private to "allen": en. Private to "Alls": s.

"allen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Alls" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allenaleln · alen · allenn · allne · lalen
  • Allsallss · alsl · lals

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allen" and "Alls" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allen" is an unknown and "Alls" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "allen" or "Alls"?
"allen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #276 in our German list, against #40,369 for "Alls". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list