allervsallzuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aller is a pronoun, allzu is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#425
“aller” frequency rank
#3,294
“allzu” frequency rank
3719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aller allzu
Definition maskuline Singularform, Nominativ; feminine Singularform, Genitiv und Dativ; Pluralform, Genitiv des Indefinitpronomens all verstärktes zu; zu sehr, in zu hohem Grade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aller and allzu apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
aller
5 ch
allzu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aller is [ˈalɐ] while allzu is [ˈalt͡suː]. 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 (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aller is recorded at frequency rank #425, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈalɐ]. allzu is at rank #3,294, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈalt͡suː].

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 3719, this pair ranks #1,999,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aller vs allzu

Shared letters: al. Private to "aller": er. Private to "allzu": uz.

"aller" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "allzu" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alleralelr · aler · allerr · allre · laler
  • allzualluz · allzzu · alzlu · alzu · lalzu

Frequency comparison

aller#425
allzu#3,294

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aller" and "allzu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aller" is a pronoun and "allzu" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aller" or "allzu"?
"aller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #425 in our German list, against #3,294 for "allzu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aller vs allzu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “aller”; for an adverb, it's “allzu”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aller” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list