allonsvsalloueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,581
“allons” frequency rank
#47,718
“alloue” frequency rank
49299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allons alloue
Definition Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe aller. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe allouer.

Where the eye mixes allons and alloue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. allons (VCCVCC) and alloue (VCCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
allons
6 ch
alloue

Why the eye confuses allons with alloue

A purely visual mix-up. allons (\a.lɔ̃\) and alloue (\a.lu\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allons is recorded at frequency rank #1,581, classified as averb, pronounced \a.lɔ̃\. alloue is at rank #47,718, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lu\.

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 49299, this pair ranks #171,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of allons vs alloue

Shared letters: alo. Private to "allons": ns. Private to "alloue": eu.

"allons" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "alloue" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allons ← allnos · allonns · allonss · allosn · alolns · alons · lalons
  • alloue ← alloeu · alluoe · alolue · aloue · laloue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "allons" for "alloue" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\a.lɔ̃\ versus \a.lu\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "allons" vs "alloue" - which ranks higher?
"allons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,581 in our French list, against #47,718 for "alloue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "allons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alloue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "allons" and "alloue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allègue vs alloue". 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 #171,820 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list