AlostvsalsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Alost is a name, als is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Alost” is a name and “als” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,144
“Alost” frequency rank
#23,096
“als” frequency rank
70240
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Alost als
Definition Commune et ville de la province de Flandre-Orientale de la région flamande de Belgique. Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier utilisé pour parler de plusieurs personnes peu importe(nt) leur(s) genre(s).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Alost and als apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Alost
3 ch
als

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Alost is \a.lɔst\ while als is \al\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alost is recorded at frequency rank #47,144, classified as aname, pronounced \a.lɔst\. als is at rank #23,096, tagged as apron, pronounced \al\.

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 70240, this pair ranks #52,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Alost vs als

Shared letters: als. Private to "Alost": ot. Private to "als": -.

"Alost" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "als" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Alostallost · alosst · alostt · alots · alsot · aolst · laost

Frequency comparison

Alost#47,144
als#23,096

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Alost" and "als" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Alost" is a name and "als" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Alost" or "als"?
"als" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,096 in our French list, against #47,144 for "Alost". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Alost vs als

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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