along vs among, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“along” and “among” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,115
“along” frequency rank: #47,544
“among” frequency rank: 87659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	along	among
Definition	A lo largo de.	Entre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set along and among apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

along

5 ch

among

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. along (/əˈlɒŋ/) and among (/əˈmʌŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “along” becomes m in “among”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

along is recorded at frequency rank #40,115, classified as aprep, pronounced /əˈlɒŋ/. among is at rank #47,544, tagged as aprep, pronounced /əˈmʌŋ/.

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 87659, this pair ranks #4,324 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of along vs among

Shared letters: agno. Private to "along": l. Private to "among": m.

"along" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "among" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

along ← allong · alnog · alogn · alongg · alonng · aolng · laong
among ← ammong · amnog · amogn · amongg · amonng · aomng · maong

Frequency comparison

along#40,115

among#47,544

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "along" and "among" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/əˈlɒŋ/ versus /əˈmʌŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "along" or "among"?

"along" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,115 in our Spanish list, against #47,544 for "among". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering along vs among

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “along” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable