alongvsamongWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,634
“along” frequency rank
#42,150
“among” frequency rank
81784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature along among
Definition Le long de. Entre, parmi, au milieu de.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
along
5 ch
among

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. along (\ə.ˈlɒŋ\) and among (\ə.mʌŋ\) 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 a single letter - l in “along” becomes m in “among”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

along is recorded at frequency rank #39,634, classified as aprep, pronounced \ə.ˈlɒŋ\. among is at rank #42,150, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ə.mʌŋ\.

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 81784, this pair ranks #18,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of along vs among

Shared letters: agno. Private to "along": l. Private to "among": m.

"along" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "among" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alongallong · alnog · alogn · alongg · alonng · aolng · laong
  • amongammong · amnog · amogn · amongg · amonng · aomng · maong

Frequency comparison

along#39,634
among#42,150

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "along" and "among" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ə.ˈlɒŋ\ versus \ə.mʌŋ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "along" or "among"?
"along" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,634 in our French list, against #42,150 for "among". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering along vs among

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 “along” 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