Which to use
“aléa” is a noun and “allai” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,240
- “aléa” frequency rank
- #38,638
- “allai” frequency rank
- 74878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aléa | allai |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chance bonne ou mauvaise. | Première personne de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe aller. |
Where the eye mixes aléa and allai
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aléa runs 4 letters (VCVV) against allai's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between aléa and allai
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aléa is \a.le.a\ while allai is \a.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aléa is recorded at frequency rank #36,240, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.le.a\. allai is at rank #38,638, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.le\.
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 74878, this pair ranks #35,742 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of aléa vs allai
Shared letters: al. Private to "aléa": é. Private to "allai": i.
"aléa" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "allai" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- allai ← alali · lalai
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "aléa" and "allai" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "aléa" or "allai" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aléa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,742 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aléa" and "allai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aléa vs avéra". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #35,742 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.