Which to use
“als” is a pronoun and “an” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,096
- “als” frequency rank
- #363
- “an” frequency rank
- 23459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | als | an |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier utilisé pour parler de plusieurs personnes peu importe(nt) leur(s) genre(s). | Temps que met la Terre à accomplir une révolution autour du Soleil et qui se divise en douze mois. Année (voir Notes plus bas). |
Where the eye mixes als and an
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: als vs an
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: als is \al\ while an is \ɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
als is recorded at frequency rank #23,096, classified as apron, pronounced \al\. an is at rank #363, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃\.
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 23459, this pair ranks #352,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of als vs an
Shared letters: a. Private to "als": ls. Private to "an": n.
"als" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "an" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "als" for "an" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "als" or "an" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "als" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "an" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "als" and "an" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "als vs aves". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #352,354 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.