Which to use
“allen” is an unknown and “altes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #276
- “allen” frequency rank
- #3,501
- “altes” frequency rank
- 3777
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allen | altes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Indefinitpronomens all | Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt |
Where the eye mixes allen and altes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allen is [ˈalən] while altes is [ˈaltəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allen is recorded at frequency rank #276, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈalən]. altes is at rank #3,501, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltəs].
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 3777, this pair ranks #1,999,396 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of allen vs altes
Shared letters: ael. Private to "allen": n. Private to "altes": st.
"allen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "altes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC