albumvsalmWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“album” and “alm” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,010
“album” frequency rank
#43,024
“alm” frequency rank
44034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature album alm
Definition In Ancient Rome, a white tablet or register on which the praetor's edicts and other public notices were recorded. Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set album and alm apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
album
3 ch
alm

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. album (/ˈælbəm/) and alm (/ɑːm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

album is recorded at frequency rank #1,010, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈælbəm/. alm is at rank #43,024, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɑːm/.

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 44034, this pair ranks #234,320 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of album vs alm

Shared letters: alm. Private to "album": bu. Private to "alm": -.

"album" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "alm" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • albumablum · albbum · albmu · albumm · allbum · alubm · labum

Frequency comparison

album#1,010
alm#43,024

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "album" and "alm" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈælbəm/ versus /ɑːm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "album" or "alm"?
"album" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,010 in our English list, against #43,024 for "alm". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering album vs alm

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “album” 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