allesvsaltersWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#97
“alles” frequency rank
#6,387
“alters” frequency rank
6484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alles alters
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens all seit jeher, seit langer Zeit

Where the eye mixes alles and alters

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

5 ch
alles
6 ch
alters

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alles is [ˈaləs] while alters is [ˈaltɐs]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alles is recorded at frequency rank #97, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈaləs]. alters is at rank #6,387, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈaltɐs].

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 6484, this pair ranks #1,991,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alles vs alters

Shared letters: aels. Private to "alles": -. Private to "alters": rt.

"alles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "alters" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allesalels · ales · alless · allse · lales
  • altersaletrs · allters · alterrs · alterss · altesr · altres · altters · atlers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alles" and "alters" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alles" is a pronoun and "alters" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alles" or "alters"?
"alles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 in our German list, against #6,387 for "alters". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "alles" and "alters". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alters" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alles" and "alters" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alters 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list