allervsallesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aller” and “alles” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#425
“aller” frequency rank
#97
“alles” frequency rank
522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aller alles
Definition maskuline Singularform, Nominativ; feminine Singularform, Genitiv und Dativ; Pluralform, Genitiv des Indefinitpronomens all Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens all

Where the eye mixes aller and alles

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

5 ch
aller
5 ch
alles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. aller ([ˈalɐ]) and alles ([ˈaləs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - r in “aller” becomes s in “alles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aller is recorded at frequency rank #425, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈalɐ]. 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 522, this pair ranks #2,005,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aller vs alles

Shared letters: ael. Private to "aller": r. Private to "alles": s.

"aller" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "alles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alleralelr · aler · allerr · allre · laler
  • allesalels · ales · alless · allse · lales

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aller" and "alles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈalɐ] versus [ˈaləs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aller" or "alles"?
"alles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 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