alléesvsallonsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,270
“allées” frequency rank
#1,581
“allons” frequency rank
11851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allées allons
Definition Pluriel de allée. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe aller.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
allées
6 ch
allons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allées is \a.le\ while allons is \a.lɔ̃\. 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 11851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allées is recorded at frequency rank #10,270, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.le\. allons is at rank #1,581, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lɔ̃\.

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 11851, this pair ranks #407,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allées vs allons

Shared letters: als. Private to "allées": . Private to "allons": no.

"allées" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "allons" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allonsallnos · allonns · allonss · allosn · alolns · alons · lalons

Frequency comparison

allées#10,270
allons#1,581

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allées" and "allons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allées" is a noun and "allons" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "allées" or "allons"?
"allons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,581 in our French list, against #10,270 for "allées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering allées vs allons

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “allées”; for a verb, it's “allons”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “allées” 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