Allude or elude?
allude is a verb meaning “To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication…”; elude is a verb meaning “To evade or escape from (someone or something), especially by using cunning or…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) elude is about as common as allude.
What is the difference between allude and elude?
| allude | elude | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | verb |
| Meaning | To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention | To evade or escape from (someone or something), especially by using cunning or skill To shake off (a pursuer); to give someone the slip |
| Example | First, she alluded to her husband as "the man at home looking after the children". Then she referred to him as "my George" | I get algebra, but calculus eludes me |
| Forms | alludes, alluding, alluded | eludes, eluding, eluded |
| Pronunciation | /əˈljuːd/ /əˈluːd/ /əˈlud/ | /ɪˈljuːd/ [ɪˈlʉwd] /ɪˈlyːd/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: allude and elude 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 allude and elude
allude
- 1
To refer to something indirectly or by suggestion; to invoke it by implication rather than mention
First, she alluded to her husband as "the man at home looking after the children". Then she referred to him as "my George"
elude
- 1
To evade or escape from (someone or something), especially by using cunning or skill
- 2
To shake off (a pursuer); to give someone the slip
- 3
To escape being understandable to; to be incomprehensible to
I get algebra, but calculus eludes me
- 4
To escape someone's memory, to slip someone's mind
The solution of that brainteaser eludes me and the name of the author eludes my memory too
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, allude or elude?
allude appears about once in every 2 million words; elude about once in every 2 million words.
allude about once in every 2 million wordselude about once in every 2 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 allude vs elude?
“allude vs elude” is searched about 4,400 times a month on Google and 160 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“elude vs allude”, “allude or elude”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.