alwaysvsetConfusable pair

Quick tell: always is a adverb, et is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“always” is an adverb and “et” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,797
“always” frequency rank
#1,447
“et” frequency rank
20244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature always et
Definition immer Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs eat

Letter map: always vs et

Shared letters muted; letters that set always and et apart highlighted. No shared letter run.

6 ch
always
2 ch
et

Grammar separator: always vs et

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: always is anadverb and etaverb. On the page they differ by 4 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

always is recorded at frequency rank #18,797, classified as anadv, pronounced […]. et is at rank #1,447, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 20244, this pair ranks #1,899,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of always vs et

Shared letters: none. Private to "always": alswy. Private to "et": et.

"always" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "et" · 2 letters · shape VC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alwaysalawys · allways · alwasy · alwayss · alwayys · alwways · alwyas · awlays

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "always" and "et" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "always" is an adverb and "et" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "always" vs "et" - which ranks higher?
"et" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,447 in our German list, against #18,797 for "always". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "always" and "et".

  • Full dictionary entry for "always" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "et" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,899,777 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "always" and "et" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "always vs puzzles". 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 #1,899,777 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