allervsallouerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aller” and “allouer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#201
“aller” frequency rank
#29,626
“allouer” frequency rank
29827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aller allouer
Definition Se déplacer jusqu'à un endroit. Accorder quelque chose à quelqu'un.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aller and allouer apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
aller
7 ch
allouer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. aller (\a.le\) and allouer (\a.lwe\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aller is recorded at frequency rank #201, classified as averb, pronounced \a.le\. allouer is at rank #29,626, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lwe\.

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 29827, this pair ranks #314,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aller vs allouer

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "aller": -. Private to "allouer": ou.

"aller" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "allouer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alleralelr · aler · allerr · allre · laler
  • alloueralloeur · allouerr · alloure · alluoer · aloluer · alouer · lalouer

Frequency comparison

aller#201
allouer#29,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aller" and "allouer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.le\ versus \a.lwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aller" or "allouer"?
"aller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #201 in our French list, against #29,626 for "allouer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aller vs allouer

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 “aller” 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