Which to use
“alles” is a pronoun and “altem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #97
- “alles” frequency rank
- #16,081
- “altem” frequency rank
- 16178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alles | altem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens all | Dativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt |
Where the eye mixes alles and altem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between alles and altem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alles is [ˈaləs] while altem is [ˈaltəm]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alles is recorded at frequency rank #97, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈaləs]. altem is at rank #16,081, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltəm].
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 16178, this pair ranks #1,937,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alles vs altem
Shared letters: ael. Private to "alles": s. Private to "altem": mt.
"alles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "altem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alles" and "altem" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "alles" vs "altem" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "alles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "altem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,937,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alles" and "altem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "altem vs altert". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,937,932 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.