allervsaltenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#425
“aller” frequency rank
#416
“alten” frequency rank
841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aller alten
Definition maskuline Singularform, Nominativ; feminine Singularform, Genitiv und Dativ; Pluralform, Genitiv des Indefinitpronomens all Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
aller
5 ch
alten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

aller and alten form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aller is recorded at frequency rank #425, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈalɐ]. alten is at rank #416, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltn̩].

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 841, this pair ranks #2,005,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

aller#425
alten#416

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aller" and "alten" be used interchangeably?
No, "aller" and "alten" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering aller vs alten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “aller”; for an adjective, it's “alten”.
  • 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