all
/ɔːl/determiner, pronoun, adverb, noun, adjective
all is spelled A-L-L: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3,311 times per million words in written English, the 34th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a determiner, all means “Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in all?
| Letters | 3: A-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3,311 times per million words; the 34th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is all?
All appears 3,311 times per million words in written English, the 34th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce all?
- UK /ɔːl/
- UK [oːɫ]
- /u(ɫ)/
All has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-all.wav, En-us-all.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with all
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: awl (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: al.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with all?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as all from its last stressed vowel (/ɔl/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of all
- a'
- alls plural
- ☿ial
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does all mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
determiner
- 1
Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
All contestants must register for the footrace: we've arranged numbers for them all.
- 2
Throughout the whole of (a stated period of time; generally used with units of a day or longer).
The store is open all day and all night.
- 3
Only; alone; nothing but.
He's all talk; he never puts his ideas into practice.
- 4
obsoleteAny.
pronoun
- 1
Everything.
Some gave all they had.
- 2
Everyone.
A good time was had by all (of you/us/them).
- 3
The only thing(s).
All that was left was a small pile of ash.
- 4
IndiaScotlandUsed after who, what, where, how and similar words, either without changing their meaning, or indicating that one expects that they cover more than one element, e.g. that "Who all attended?" is more than one person. (Some dialects only allow this to follow some words and not others.)
Q. Now, then, when you started to go to stake the claims, who all went along?
adverb
- 1
Wholly; entirely; completely; totally.
She was sitting all alone. It suddenly went all quiet. I'm all done, Mommy! I did it all by myself.
- 2
Apiece; each.
The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.
- 3
So much; used with "the" and a comparative.
Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.
- 4
obsoleteEven; just.
- 5
A quotative particle, compare like.
She was all, “Whatever.”
noun
- 1
Everything that one is capable of.
She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.
- 2
The totality of one's possessions.
she therefore ordered Jenny to pack up her alls and begone, for that she was determined she should not sleep that night within her walls. […] I packed up my little all as well as I could, and went off.
- 3
Everything in general; all that matters.
I will die fighting for my people, because my people are all.
adjective
- 1
All gone; dead.
The butter is all.
noun
- 1
Initialism of anterolateral ligament.
- 2
Initialism of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
conjunction
- 1
obsoleteAlthough.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
All in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tous les, toutes les, tout le, toute la , tout, toute |
| German | all, alle, jeder, jede, jedes , völlig |
| Portuguese | todo, toda , tudo |
| Spanish | todos, todas , todo, toda |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does all come from?
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).