alimvsallaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: alim is a noun, alla is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alim” is a noun and “alla” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,112
“alim” frequency rank
#10,986
“alla” frequency rank
51098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alim alla
Definition Alimentation. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe aller.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set alim and alla apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
alim
4 ch
alla

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alim is \a.lim\ while alla is \a.la\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alim is recorded at frequency rank #40,112, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.lim\. alla is at rank #10,986, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.la\.

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 51098, this pair ranks #157,607 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alim vs alla

Shared letters: al. Private to "alim": im. Private to "alla": -.

"alim" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "alla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alimailm · alimm · allim · almi
  • allaalal

Frequency comparison

alim#40,112
alla#10,986

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alim" and "alla" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alim" is a noun and "alla" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "alim" or "alla"?
"alla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,986 in our French list, against #40,112 for "alim". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering alim vs alla

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “alim”; for a verb, it's “alla”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “alim” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list