almsvsAlunWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: alms is a noun, Alun is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alms” is a noun and “Alun” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,114
“alms” frequency rank
#47,459
“Alun” frequency rank
80573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alms Alun
Definition Something given to the poor as charity, such as money, clothing or food. A male given name from Welsh.

Letter map: alms vs Alun

Shared letters muted; letters that set alms and Alun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. alms (VCCC) and Alun (VCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
alms
4 ch
Alun

Grammar separator: alms vs Alun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: alms is anoun and Alunaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alms is recorded at frequency rank #33,114, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɑːmz/. Alun is at rank #47,459, tagged as aname.

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 80573, this pair ranks #19,521 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alms vs Alun

Shared letters: al. Private to "alms": ms. Private to "Alun": nu.

"alms" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "Alun" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alms ← allms · almms · almss · alsm · amls · lams
  • Alun ← allun · alnu · alunn · auln · laun

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alms" and "Alun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alms" is a noun and "Alun" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alms" or "Alun"?
"alms" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,114 in our English list, against #47,459 for "Alun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "alms" and "Alun".

  • Full dictionary entry for "alms" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Alun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,521 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alms" and "Alun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "algo vs Alun". 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 #19,521 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list