Which to use
“alls” is a determiner and “auld” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,608
- “alls” frequency rank
- #31,071
- “auld” frequency rank
- 75679
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alls | auld |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | All. | Old. |
Where the eye mixes alls and auld
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alls (VCCC) and auld (VVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses alls with auld
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alls is /ɔːlz/ while auld is /oʊld/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alls is recorded at frequency rank #44,608, classified as adet, pronounced /ɔːlz/. auld is at rank #31,071, tagged as anadj, pronounced /oʊld/.
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 75679, this pair ranks #32,370 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of alls vs auld
Shared letters: al. Private to "alls": s. Private to "auld": du.
"alls" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "auld" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alls" and "auld" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "alls" or "auld"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "alls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "auld" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,370 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alls" and "auld" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "algo vs alls". 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 #32,370 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.