Which to use
“ally” is a verb and “als” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,021
- “ally” frequency rank
- #17,755
- “als” frequency rank
- 23776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ally | als |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty. | Obsolete form of also. |
Letter map: ally vs als
Shared letters muted; letters that set ally and als apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - ally and als
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ally is averb and alsanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ally is recorded at frequency rank #6,021, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈæl.aɪ/. als is at rank #17,755, tagged as anadv.
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 23776, this pair ranks #406,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ally vs als
Shared letters: al. Private to "ally": y. Private to "als": s.
"ally" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "als" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ally ← allyy · aly · alyl · laly
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ally" and "als" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ally" vs "als" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "ally" and "als". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ally" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "als" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ally" and "als" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "als vs amb". 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 #406,864 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.