Which to use
“allegiance” and “alliance” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,336
- “allegiance” frequency rank
- #3,598
- “alliance” frequency rank
- 14934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allegiance | alliance |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A loyalty to some cause, nation or ruler. | The state of being allied. |
Where the eye mixes allegiance and alliance
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. allegiance runs 10 letters (VCCVCVVCCV) against alliance's 8 (VCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: allegiance vs alliance
A purely visual mix-up. allegiance (/əˈliː.d͡ʒəns/) and alliance (/əˈlaɪ.əns/) 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 14934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allegiance is recorded at frequency rank #11,336, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈliː.d͡ʒəns/. alliance is at rank #3,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈlaɪ.əns/.
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 14934, this pair ranks #467,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of allegiance vs alliance
Shared letters: aceiln. Private to "allegiance": g. Private to "alliance": -.
"allegiance" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVCCV · "alliance" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- allegiance ← alegiance · alelgiance · allegaince · alleggiance · allegiacne · allegiancce · allegianec · allegiannce
- alliance ← aliance · alilance · allaince · alliacne · alliancce · allianec · alliannce · allience
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "allegiance" for "alliance" ever safe?
Frequency check: "allegiance" vs "alliance" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "allegiance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alliance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #467,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allegiance" and "alliance" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alliance vs ambiance". 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 #467,074 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.