Which to use
“boll” is a noun and “böse” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,868
- “boll” frequency rank
- #1,543
- “böse” frequency rank
- 25411
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boll | böse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Kornhülse, die Spreu | moralisch falsch, nicht gut; bösartig |
Letter map: boll vs böse
Shared letters muted; letters that set boll and böse apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Grammar separator: boll vs böse
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: boll is anoun and böseanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boll is recorded at frequency rank #23,868, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. böse is at rank #1,543, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbøːzə].
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 25411, this pair ranks #1,833,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boll vs böse
Shared letters: b. Private to "boll": lo. Private to "böse": esö.
"boll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "böse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- boll ← bboll · blol · bol · obll
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boll" for "böse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "boll" or "böse"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "boll" and "böse".
- Full dictionary entry for "boll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "böse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,833,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boll" and "böse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boll vs puzzles". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,833,730 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.