You might be wondering whether to spell the word ‘alot’ or ‘a lot.’ We’ll help you make the right choice no matter what you’re writing. You’ll also learn how to use it in a sentence correctly.
Don’t feel like skimming? Here’s the difference:
‘Alot’ is the incorrect spelling of the word.
‘A lot’ is the only correct way to spell the word. Any other spelling of the word is incorrect.
'Allot' is a different word which means to give someone something as a share or task.
‘A lot’ and ‘allot’ are both recognized words in the English language, but ‘alot’ isn’t a word, as you’ve just learned.
‘A lot’ means a great deal or much.
‘Allot’ means to give something to someone as a share or task.
As you just learned, the difference between ‘alot’ and ‘a lot’ is the former is not a word, and the latter is a word. The only correct spelling of the word is the former.
The Merriam-Webster definition of the word ‘lot’ is: “an object used as a counter in determining a question by chance,” “the use of lots as a means of deciding something,” “the resulting choice,” “something that comes to one upon whom a lot has fallen: share,” “one’s way of life or worldly fate: fortune,” “a portion of land,” and “a measured parcel of land having fixed boundaries and designated on a plot or survey.”
It also means: “a motion-picture studio and its adjoining property,” “an establishment for the storage or sale of motor vehicles,” “a number of units of an article, a single article, or a parcel of articles offered as one item (as in an auction sale),” “all the members of a present group, kind, or quantity,” “a number of associated persons: set,” “kind, sort,” and “a considerable quantity or extent.”
The verb definition is: “allot, apportion” and “to form or divide into lots.”
The whole phrase is defined as: “to a considerable degree or extent,” “often, frequently,” and “lots.”
Synonyms of the word include:
The phrase should only be capitalized if it’s the beginning of a sentence. Otherwise, it should be all lowercase letters. But only the ‘a’ would be capitalized, not the ‘l.’
Now that we know the correct spelling and the meaning of the phrase, we can move on to using it in a sentence correctly.
Take a look at a few examples of how to do that:
To recap, we learned that there's only one correct way to spell the phrase. You need that space to make it grammatical and correct.
If you ever get stuck, remember that it’s similar to words and phrases like ‘good morning,’ ‘each other’ and ‘as well,’ in that they all have spaces between the words. Never mush them together.
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