allervsaltereWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aller is a pronoun, altere is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#425
“aller” frequency rank
#36,169
“altere” frequency rank
36594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aller altere
Definition maskuline Singularform, Nominativ; feminine Singularform, Genitiv und Dativ; Pluralform, Genitiv des Indefinitpronomens all 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs altern

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aller and altere apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
aller
6 ch
altere

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aller is [ˈalɐ] while altere is [ˈaltəʁə]. 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 (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aller is recorded at frequency rank #425, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈalɐ]. altere is at rank #36,169, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaltəʁə].

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 36594, this pair ranks #1,611,567 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aller vs altere

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "aller": -. Private to "altere": t.

"aller" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "altere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alleralelr · aler · allerr · allre · laler
  • alterealetre · alltere · alteer · alterre · altree · alttere · atlere · latere

Frequency comparison

aller#425
altere#36,169

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aller" and "altere" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aller" is a pronoun and "altere" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aller" or "altere"?
"aller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #425 in our German list, against #36,169 for "altere". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aller vs altere

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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