altesvsAlzeyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: altes is a adjective, Alzey is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“altes” is an adjective and “Alzey” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,501
“altes” frequency rank
#42,323
“Alzey” frequency rank
45824
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature altes Alzey
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt Kreisstadt des Kreises Alzey-Worms in Rheinland-Pfalz

Where the eye mixes altes and Alzey

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. altes (VCCVC) and Alzey (VCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
altes
5 ch
Alzey

Visual trap between altes and Alzey

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: altes is [ˈaltəs] while Alzey is [ˈalt͡saɪ̯]. 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 (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

altes is recorded at frequency rank #3,501, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltəs]. Alzey is at rank #42,323, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈalt͡saɪ̯].

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 45824, this pair ranks #1,340,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of altes vs Alzey

Shared letters: ael. Private to "altes": st. Private to "Alzey": yz.

"altes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Alzey" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • altes ← alets · alltes · altess · altse · alttes · atles · lates
  • Alzey ← alezy · allzey · alzeyy · alzye · alzzey · azley · lazey

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "altes" and "Alzey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "altes" is an adjective and "Alzey" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "altes" vs "Alzey" - which ranks higher?
"altes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,501 in our German list, against #42,323 for "Alzey". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "altes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Alzey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,340,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "altes" and "Alzey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Alzey vs Atze". 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 #1,340,002 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list