alasvsAlunTell them apart

Quick tell: alas is a intj, Alun is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alas” is an intj and “Alun” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,647
“alas” frequency rank
#47,459
“Alun” frequency rank
59106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alas Alun
Definition Used to express sorrow, regret, compassion, grief, resignation, or disappointment. A male given name from Welsh.

Letter map: alas vs Alun

Shared letters muted; letters that set alas and Alun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. alas and Alun follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
alas
4 ch
Alun

Role in the sentence - alas and Alun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alas is anintj and Alunaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alas is recorded at frequency rank #11,647, classified as anintj, pronounced /əˈlæs/. Alun is at rank #47,459, tagged as aname.

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 59106, this pair ranks #108,274 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alas vs Alun

Shared letters: al. Private to "alas": s. Private to "Alun": nu.

"alas" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Alun" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alas ← aals · alass · allas · alsa · laas
  • Alun ← allun · alnu · alunn · auln · laun

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alas" and "Alun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alas" is an intj and "Alun" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "alas" vs "Alun" - which ranks higher?
"alas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,647 in our English list, against #47,459 for "Alun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "alas" and "Alun". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Alun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,274 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alas" and "Alun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "algo vs Alun". 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 #108,274 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list