Which to use
“alla” and “allait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,986
- “alla” frequency rank
- #1,053
- “allait” frequency rank
- 12039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alla | allait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe aller. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe aller. |
Where the eye mixes alla and allait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. alla runs 4 letters (VCCV) against allait's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: alla vs allait
A purely visual mix-up. alla (\a.la\) and allait (\a.lɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “alla” sits inside “allait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alla is recorded at frequency rank #10,986, classified as averb, pronounced \a.la\. allait is at rank #1,053, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lɛ\.
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 12039, this pair ranks #406,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alla vs allait
Shared letters: al. Private to "alla": -. Private to "allait": it.
"alla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "allait" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "alla" for "allait" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "alla" or "allait" 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 "alla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alla" and "allait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aba vs alla". 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 #406,826 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.