Alan vs als, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Alan” is a name and “als” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,275
“Alan” frequency rank: #17,755
“als” frequency rank: 21030
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Alan	als
Definition	A male given name from the Celtic languages.	Obsolete form of also.

Letter map: Alan vs als

Shared letters muted; letters that set Alan and als apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch

Alan

3 ch

als

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Alan is aname and alsanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alan is recorded at frequency rank #3,275, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈæl.ən/. als is at rank #17,755, tagged as anadv.

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 21030, this pair ranks #426,905 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Alan vs als

Shared letters: al. Private to "Alan": n. Private to "als": s.

"Alan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "als" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

Alan ← aaln · alann · alna · laan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Alan" and "als" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Alan" is a name and "als" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Alan" or "als"?

"Alan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,275 in our English list, against #17,755 for "als". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.