always
al·ways/ˈɔːl.weɪz/adverb
always is spelled A-L-W-A-Y-S, 2 syllables: al·ways. The wrong spelling people search most is allways: about 470 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 13 of all searches for the word. Always is an adverb meaning “At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning”.
How many letters and syllables are in always?
| Letters | 6: A-L-W-A-Y-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: al·ways |
| In writing | 575 times per million words; the 170th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, allways, about 470 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); 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).
How do you spell always?
Always is spelled A-L-W-A-Y-S. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for always in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is always?
Always appears 575 times per million words in written English, the 170th 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 always?
- UK /ˈɔːl.weɪz/
- UK /ˈɔː.weɪz/
- UK /ˈɔːl.wɪz/
Always has 2 syllables, split al·ways in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-always.ogg, En-us-always.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of always
- allus
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does always mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.
God is always the same.
- 2
Constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals (opposed to sometimes or occasionally).
In this street, the shops always close during lunchtime.
- 3
informalif necessary, or if there is no better option; in any event.
I thought I could always go back to work.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Always in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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.