allesvsaprèsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alles is a pronoun, après is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#97
“alles” frequency rank
#42,342
“après” frequency rank
42439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alles après
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens all Relation, bei der das mitnach nach

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alles and après apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
alles
5 ch
après

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alles is [ˈaləs] while après is [a.pʁɛ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alles is recorded at frequency rank #97, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈaləs]. après is at rank #42,342, tagged as aprep, pronounced [a.pʁɛ].

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 42439, this pair ranks #1,449,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alles vs après

Shared letters: as. Private to "alles": el. Private to "après": prè.

"alles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "après" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allesalels · ales · alless · allse · lales

Frequency comparison

alles#97
après#42,342

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alles" and "après" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alles" is a pronoun and "après" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alles" or "après"?
"alles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 in our German list, against #42,342 for "après". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering alles vs après

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “alles”; for a preposition, it's “après”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alles” 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