AlexvsallConfusable pair

Quick tell: Alex is a name, all is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Alex” is a name and “all” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,378
“Alex” frequency rank
#32
“all” frequency rank
2410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Alex all
Definition A unisex given name from Ancient Greek. Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).

Where the eye mixes Alex and all

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Alex
3 ch
all

Look-alike desk: Alex vs all

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Alex is /ˈæ.lɪks/ while all is /ɔːl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alex is recorded at frequency rank #2,378, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈæ.lɪks/. all is at rank #32, tagged as adet, pronounced /ɔːl/.

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 2410, this pair ranks #525,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Alex vs all

Shared letters: al. Private to "Alex": ex. Private to "all": -.

"Alex" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "all" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Alexaelx · alexx · allex · alxe · laex

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Alex" for "all" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Alex" is a name and "all" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Alex" or "all"?
"all" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our English list, against #2,378 for "Alex". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Alex" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "all" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #525,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Alex" and "all" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Alex vs algo". 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 #525,044 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