Which to use
“alm” is a noun and “auld” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,024
- “alm” frequency rank
- #31,071
- “auld” frequency rank
- 74095
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alm | auld |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something given to the poor as charity: a singular gift of alms. | Old. |
Where the eye mixes alm and auld
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alm runs 3 letters (VCC) against auld's 4 (VVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses alm with auld
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alm is /ɑːm/ while auld is /oʊld/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alm is recorded at frequency rank #43,024, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɑːm/. 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 74095, this pair ranks #37,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of alm vs auld
Shared letters: al. Private to "alm": m. Private to "auld": du.
"alm" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "auld" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- auld ← alud · audl · auldd · aulld · uald
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alm" and "auld" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "alm" or "auld"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "alm" and "auld" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "alm" 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 #37,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alm" and "auld" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alm 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 #37,437 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.