also
/ˈɔːl.səʊ/
"also" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“also” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #70 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #70
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In addition; besides; as well; further; too.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | also |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈɔːl.səʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #70 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “also” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for also is 4 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɔːl.səʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #70 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for also, with forms such as "allso", "alos", and "alsso". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "as", "ao", "ask", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂elnós Proto-Germanic *allaz Proto-West Germanic *all Proto-Indo-European *swéder.? Proto-Germanic *swa Proto-West Germanic *swā Proto-West Germanic *allswā Old English eallswā Middle Engl… The correct English form is also, spelled A-L-S-O.
Definition
- 1In addition; besides; as well; further; too.
- 2To the same degree or extent; so, as.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂elnós Proto-Germanic *allaz Proto-West Germanic *all Proto-Indo-European *swéder.? Proto-Germanic *swa Proto-West Germanic *swā Proto-West Germanic *allswā Old English eallswā Middle English also English also From Middle English also, alswo, alswa (also als(e), as, whence English as), from Old English eallswā (“just like, also”), from Proto-West Germanic *allswā, equivalent to all + so. Cognate with Scots alsa, alswa (“also, even so, in the same way, as, as well”), Saterland Frisian also (“accordingly, therefore, thus”), West Frisian alsa (“so, just so, even so, thus”), Old Saxon alsō (“similarly, as if, just as, when”), Dutch alzo (“so, thus”), German also (“so, thus”), Danish altså (“so”), Norwegian Bokmål altså (“so, therefore, accordingly, thus”), Norwegian Nynorsk altso (“so, accordingly, therefore, thus”), Swedish alltså (“so, therefore, accordingly, thus, then”). Doublet of as. More at all, so.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: allso,alos,alsso,aslo,laso
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of also - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “also”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-S-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɔːl.səʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “as” - see the side-by-side comparison. also vs as
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.