als vs any, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“als” and “any” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,755
“als” frequency rank: #90
“any” frequency rank: 17845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	als	any
Definition	Obsolete form of also.	To even the slightest extent, at all.

Letter map: als vs any

Shared letters muted; letters that set als and any apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

als

3 ch

any

Corpus notes: als and any

als and any are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

als is recorded at frequency rank #17,755, classified as anadv. any is at rank #90, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɛni/.

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 17845, this pair ranks #448,762 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of als vs any

Shared letters: a. Private to "als": ls. Private to "any": ny.

"als" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "any" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "als" for "any" ever safe?

No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

In ordinary English text, does "als" or "any" show up more?

"any" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #90 in our English list, against #17,755 for "als". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "als" vs "any" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "als" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "any" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #448,762 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"als" and "any" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "als vs amb". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #448,762 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.