alone

a·loneUK /əˈləʊn/adjective, adverb

alone is spelled A-L-O-N-E: 5 letters and 2 syllables (a·lone). It appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, alone means “By oneself, solitary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in alone?

Letters	5: A-L-O-N-E
Syllables	2: a·lone
In writing	145 times per million words; the 711th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	own pwn trigone
Same letters	anole

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is alone?

Alone appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th most frequent word form in the list.

alone0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce alone?

UK /əˈləʊn/
/əˈlɛːn/
/əˈlon/

Alone has 2 syllables, split a·lone in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-alone.ogg, En-us-alone.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with alone?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as alone from its last stressed vowel (/əʊn/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: anole.

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).

What does alone mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
By oneself, solitary.
I can't ask for help because I am alone.
2
Not involved in a romantic relationship.
3
Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.
Senator Craddock wants to abolish the estate tax, and she's not alone.
4
obsoleteApart from, or exclusive of, others.
5
obsoleteMere; consisting of nothing further.
6
obsoleteUnique; rare; matchless.

adverb

1
By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
She walked home alone.
2
Without outside help.
The job was too hard for me to do alone.
3
Not permitting anything further; exclusively.
The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.
4
Not requiring anything further; merely.
Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.
5
Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.
Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Alone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	seul (by oneself)
German	allein (by oneself), einzig, alleinig (unique), einsam (without company), selbst (without outside help), nur (only)
Portuguese	sozinho, só (by oneself), único (unique)
Spanish	solo (by oneself)

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 alone come from?

From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (“completely alone”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one.