allot vs alls, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“allot” is a verb and “alls” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,314
“allot” frequency rank: #44,608
“alls” frequency rank: 81922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	allot	alls
Definition	To distribute or apportion by (or as if by) lot.	All.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

allot

4 ch

alls

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allot is /əˈlɒt/ while alls is /ɔːlz/. 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 (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allot is recorded at frequency rank #37,314, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈlɒt/. alls is at rank #44,608, tagged as adet, pronounced /ɔːlz/.

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 81922, this pair ranks #16,687 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of allot vs alls

Shared letters: al. Private to "allot": ot. Private to "alls": s.

"allot" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "alls" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

allot ← allott · alolt · lalot
alls ← allss · alsl · lals

Frequency comparison

allot#37,314

alls#44,608

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allot" and "alls" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allot" is a verb and "alls" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "allot" or "alls"?

"allot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,314 in our English list, against #44,608 for "alls". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering allot vs alls

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “allot”; for a determiner, it's “alls”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “allot” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable