Which to use
“all” is a determiner and “any” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32
- “all” frequency rank
- #90
- “any” frequency rank
- 122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | all | any |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable). | To even the slightest extent, at all. |
Where the eye mixes all and any
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: all is /ɔːl/ while any is /ɛni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
all is recorded at frequency rank #32, classified as adet, pronounced /ɔːl/. any is at rank #90, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɛni/.
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 122, this pair ranks #529,854 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of all vs any
Shared letters: a. Private to "all": l. Private to "any": ny.
"all" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "any" · 3 letters · shape VCV