Alley or ally?
alley is a noun meaning “A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block…”; ally is a verb meaning “To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families…”. Use alley as a noun and ally as a verb (ally is also a noun: “A person who co-operates with or helps another; an…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) ally is about 1.7 times as common as alley.
What is the difference between alley and ally?
| alley | ally | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | verb, noun, suffix |
| Meaning | A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings The area between the outfielders A marble (small ball used in games) | To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend |
| Example | The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley | I’m glad you want to be a better ally to the disabled |
| Forms | alleys | allies, allying, allied, allyest, allyeth |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæl.i/ | /ˈæl.aɪ/ /əˈlaɪ/ /li/ |
| In writing | 7.4 times per million words | 13 times per million words |
Sources: alley and ally in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of alley and ally
alley
- 1
A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings
The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley
- 2
A marble (small ball used in games)
- 3
The area between the outfielders
He hit one deep into the alley
- 4
An establishment where bowling is played
- 5
An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled
- 6
The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches
- 7
A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes
- 8
A passageway between rows of pews in a church
ally
- 1
To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty
- 2
A person who co-operates with or helps another; an associate; a friend
- 3
Alternative form of -ly (adverbial suffix), used with adjectives ending in -ic
- 4
Chiefly followed by to or with: to connect or form a relation to (someone or something) by similarity in features or nature
- 5
A person who, or organization which, supports a demographic group subject to discrimination and/or misrepresentation but is not a member of the group; specifically (LGBTQ), a person who is not a…
I’m glad you want to be a better ally to the disabled
- 6
To join or unite (oneself or itself) against, with, etc., someone or something else
- 7
A person, group, state, etc., which is associated or united by treaty with another for a common (especially military or political) purpose; a confederate
The two countries were allies in World War I
- 8
Chiefly followed by with: to enter into an alliance or unite for a common aim
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, alley or ally?
alley appears 7.4 times per million words; ally 13 times per million words.
alley 7.4 times per million wordsally 13 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search alley vs ally?
“alley vs ally” is searched about 880 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“ally vs alley”, “alley or ally”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.