Which to use
“alls” is a determiner and “axes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,608
- “alls” frequency rank
- #16,846
- “axes” frequency rank
- 61454
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alls | axes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | All. | plural of ax |
Where the eye mixes alls and axes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: alls vs axes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alls is /ɔːlz/ while axes is /ˈæksəz/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61454, 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/. axes is at rank #16,846, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæksəz/.
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 61454, this pair ranks #94,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of alls vs axes
Shared letters: as. Private to "alls": l. Private to "axes": ex.
"alls" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "axes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "alls" for "axes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "alls" or "axes" show up more?
What to do next
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 "axes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alls" and "axes" 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 #94,147 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.