Altogether vs All Together: Difference Explained

Altogether (one word) is an adverb meaning "completely," "in total" or "on the whole": The noise stopped altogether. All together (two words) means "everyone or everything in the same place or at the same time": The family was all together for Christmas.

The two sound identical, and both involve the idea of "all," which explains why they get mixed up. But they answer different questions. Altogether tells you how much or how completely; all together tells you who or what is grouped.

Quick answer: Altogether = completely, entirely, in total, overall (That's $30 altogether). All together = all in one group or at once (Let's sing all together). Test: if you can say all of us/them were together, write two words.

On this page

1. Meaning 1: Altogether
2. Meaning 2: All Together
3. The Splitting Test
4. Pairs That Show the Difference
5. Examples in Context
6. A Note on "In the Altogether"
7. Where to Put "Altogether" in a Sentence
8. Synonyms You Can Swap In
9. Edge Cases Worth a Second Look
10. A Short Editing Exercise
11. US vs UK vs Australia
12. Common mistakes
13. A memory trick
14. Practice quiz
15. The One-Line Rule

Meaning 1: Altogether

Altogether is an adverb, pronounced awl-tuh-GETH-er, with the main stress on the third syllable. It's been a single word since Middle English, when the intensifying al ("entirely") fused with together. Its modern meanings fall into three groups.

"Completely" or "entirely"

• The village has disappeared altogether.
• I'm not altogether convinced by her argument.
• That's an altogether different question.

In this sense, altogether often appears with not to soften a statement (not altogether happy), or before an adjective to intensify it (an altogether better plan).

"In total"

• We raised £2,400 altogether.
• There were twelve of us altogether.

"On the whole" or "all things considered"

• Altogether, it was a good year for the club.

Here altogether usually opens the sentence and sums up what came before, a bit like overall.

Meaning 2: All Together

All together is two separate words: the determiner or pronoun all plus the adverb together. It's pronounced the same way as altogether, which is why only the spelling shows the difference.

It means:

• In one place, as a group: Put the receipts all together in this folder.
• At the same time, in unison: On three, push all together.

The giveaway is that all refers to specific people or things. We were all together means all of us were together. You can often separate the words or rephrase them:

• The kids were all together in the lounge. → All the kids were together in the lounge.
• Let's go all together. → Let's all go together.

If you can do that without changing the meaning, two words are correct.

The Splitting Test

This is the most reliable way to decide:

1. Try moving all elsewhere in the sentence (or replace it with all of us/them).
2. Delete all. Does the sentence still make sense with just together?

If either works, use all together. If neither works, use altogether.

• The plates are stacked __ in the cupboard. → The plates are all stacked together. (works) → all together
• The rain stopped __. → The rain all stopped together (fails: it changes the meaning) → altogether
• That costs $50 __. → That costs $50 together (fails) → altogether

Pairs That Show the Difference

Some sentences work with both spellings, with different meanings:

• The documents were altogether wrong. (completely wrong) The documents were all together in one file. (gathered in the same place)
• We stopped altogether. (we stopped completely, perhaps permanently) We stopped all together. (every one of us stopped at the same moment)
• They came to fifty altogether. (fifty in total) They came to the party all together. (they arrived as a group)

Reading pairs like these aloud with the meaning in mind is a quick way to internalize the difference.

Examples in Context

Everyday

1. Your shopping comes to $67.50 altogether.
2. It's lovely to have the grandkids all together for Easter.
3. My neighbor in Wollongong gave up coffee altogether last year.
4. Keep your passport, tickets and cash all together in one pouch.
5. I'm not altogether sure we turned the oven off.
6. The choir sang the final verse all together, without the organ.
7. The new café is altogether better than the old one.

Workplace and email

8. Altogether, the quarter went better than forecast.
9. Can we get the regional managers all together for a call next week?
10. The project will cost about $120,000 altogether, including contingency.
11. Please keep the signed contracts all together in the shared folder.
12. I'd suggest dropping the third option altogether; it's too expensive.
13. The Glasgow and Leeds teams worked all together for the first time on this launch.

Academic

14. The hypothesis was not altogether supported by the results.
15. Altogether, 1,240 participants completed the survey.
16. The samples were analyzed all together rather than in separate batches.
17. Such a model takes an altogether different view of language change.

News style

18. Organizers said 40,000 runners took part altogether in the Sydney event.
19. Firefighters from three states were all together at the scene by midnight.
20. The council has scrapped the proposed toll altogether.
21. Survivors of the 1990s flood in Ohio met all together for an anniversary service.
22. The airline said it would suspend the route altogether from March.

Informal

23. As a toddler, my son loved running round the garden in the altogether.
24. Right, everyone, all together now: "Happy birthday to you…"

A Note on "In the Altogether"

In the altogether is a playful, slightly old-fashioned way to say "naked." It dates from the late nineteenth century and probably comes from a sense of "the altogether" as the whole, unclothed body. You'll still hear it in jokes and gentle euphemism in all three countries. It is always one word.

Where to Put "Altogether" in a Sentence

Because altogether has several meanings, its position often signals which one you intend.

• Before an adjective or noun phrase, it usually means "completely": an altogether different approach, altogether too expensive.
• At the end of a clause, it often means "completely" with verbs of stopping, giving up or avoiding: She quit smoking altogether, They avoided the topic altogether. After a number, it means "in total": seventeen altogether.
• At the start of a sentence, followed by a comma, it usually means "all things considered": Altogether, the evening was a success.
• After not, it softens a statement: not altogether surprising, not altogether fair.

All together, word by word

All together is more flexible, because each word keeps its own role. All can attach to the subject (We all sat together), sit before together (We sat all together) or expand (All of us sat together). The meaning stays the same. That flexibility is exactly what makes the splitting test work.

The "al-" family, and why "alright" is different

Altogether belongs to a small group of words where al- fused with a following word: already, although, always, almost, also. Each fused form has a meaning slightly different from the separate words. Alright, by contrast, has never been fully accepted in edited writing. Most style guides still prefer all right, although alright is common in informal British and Australian writing and increasingly appears in the US. So don't assume every all + word pair has a respectable one-word twin.

Is "altogether" ever followed by a noun?

Not directly. You'll see it before a or an plus an adjective and noun (an altogether better result), but not immediately before a bare noun. Altogether people is wrong; all the people together or the people all together expresses the group idea.

Synonyms You Can Swap In

When you're stuck, replace the word with a synonym and see which one fits the sentence.

Edge Cases Worth a Second Look

"Put it all together." This common phrase means to combine parts into a whole, or to finally understand something: Once I put it all together, the story made sense. Here all belongs with it ("all of it"), so it's two words. You can test it: Put all of it together still works.

"All-together" with a hyphen. This isn't a standard form. You may see it in brand names or song titles, but in ordinary writing choose one of the two established spellings.

Numbers with "all together." The four of us drove up all together (as a group) and The four of us paid $200 altogether (in total) can appear in the same story. When a number refers to a cost or a count, think altogether; when it refers to people moving or acting at once, think all together.

A Short Editing Exercise

Here's a message to a family group chat from someone in Perth. Spot the errors before checking.

"Can't wait to have everyone altogether at Christmas! The food will cost about $300 all together, so I've decided to skip the fancy dessert all together. If we're not all together happy with the menu, let me know."

Corrected:

"Can't wait to have everyone all together at Christmas! The food will cost about $300 altogether, so I've decided to skip the fancy dessert altogether. If we're not altogether happy with the menu, let me know."

All four were wrong. The first is about people gathered in one place; the others mean "in total," "completely" and "entirely."

US vs UK vs Australia

There is no difference in spelling or meaning. American, British and Australian English all use altogether for "completely/in total" and all together for "as a group/at once," and the splitting test works in each.

A few observations about usage, rather than rules:

• British and Australian speakers are perhaps a little more likely to use altogether in the "on the whole" sense at the start of a sentence (Altogether, a decent result). Americans more often say overall or all in all, though altogether is perfectly natural in American English too.
• Totals: That'll be twenty dollars altogether (US/Australia) and That's twenty pounds altogether (UK) are identical structures. Australian and British shop staff may also say all up or in total; all up is especially common in Australian English for totals (It cost about $400 all up).
• Not altogether as a polite hedge (I'm not altogether happy with this) is common in all three, though it can sound a touch formal to American ears.

Common mistakes

❌ The bill came to $85 all together. ✅ The bill came to $85 altogether. "In total" needs the one-word adverb.

❌ It's nice to have the family altogether again. ✅ It's nice to have the family all together again. All the family is together, so two words.

❌ I'm not all together sure about that. ✅ I'm not altogether sure about that. "Not completely sure."

❌ The students sang altogether in the hall. ✅ The students sang all together in the hall. They sang in unison.

❌ That's an all together different matter. ✅ That's an altogether different matter. "Completely different."

❌ We should ban plastic bags all together. ✅ We should ban plastic bags altogether. "Ban completely."

This kind of one-word-or-two puzzle also affects already vs all ready, which works almost exactly the same way, and awhile vs a while. Grouping all three in your mind helps.

A memory trick

Picture all together as a team photo: everyone has their own space in the frame, so each word gets its own space too.

All together = everyone in the picture. If you can imagine people or things grouped side by side, give all and together their own room.

Altogether has no people in it. It's a single word for a single idea: total, completely. A second cue: altogether has only one l, just like also, already and always, all one-word adverbs built on the old al- prefix.

Practice quiz

Choose altogether or all together.

1. Put all your toys ______ in the red box, please.
2. The concert was ______ too loud for my liking.
3. There were 26 passengers on the minibus ______.
4. The cousins haven't been ______ since Grandma's eightieth.
5. After the scandal, he withdrew from politics ______.
6. Ready? Lift ______ on the count of three.

Answers

1. all together – all your toys, together in one place.
2. altogether – "completely" too loud.
3. altogether – "in total."
4. all together – all the cousins, in one place.
5. altogether – "completely" withdrew.
6. all together – at the same time.

The One-Line Rule

Ask whether you're talking about a group or a degree. If people or things are gathered or acting at once, write all together and you'll find you can usually move the all. If you mean "completely," "in total" or "overall," write altogether, one word with a single l. The rule is the same in Boston, Birmingham and Brisbane. For one more pair where spacing flips the meaning entirely, see apart vs a part.