agovsallTell them apart

Quick tell: ago is a adverb, all is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ago” is an adverb and “all” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,434
“ago” frequency rank
#2,001
“all” frequency rank
11435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ago all
Definition há, atrás – adj todo

Letter map: ago vs all

Shared letters muted; letters that set ago and all apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ago
3 ch
all

Role in the sentence - ago and all

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ago is anadverb and allanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ago is recorded at frequency rank #9,434, classified as anadv, pronounced /əˈɡəʊ/. all is at rank #2,001, tagged as anadj.

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 11435, this pair ranks #61,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ago vs all

Shared letters: a. Private to "ago": go. Private to "all": l.

"ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "all" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ago" and "all" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ago" is an adverb and "all" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ago" or "all"?
"all" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,001 in our Portuguese list, against #9,434 for "ago". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ago" and "all".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "all" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ago" and "all" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ago". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #61,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list