Which to use
“Dolch” is a noun and “dolle” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,477
- “Dolch” frequency rank
- #31,002
- “dolle” frequency rank
- 54479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dolch | dolle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Messer mit zwei Schneiden | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs doll |
Where the eye mixes Dolch and dolle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Dolch (CVCCC) and dolle (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between Dolch and dolle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dolch is [dɔlç] while dolle is [ˈdɔlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Dolch is recorded at frequency rank #23,477, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɔlç]. dolle is at rank #31,002, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdɔlə].
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 54479, this pair ranks #1,017,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Dolch vs dolle
Shared letters: dlo. Private to "Dolch": ch. Private to "dolle": e.
"Dolch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "dolle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Dolch" and "dolle" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Dolch" or "dolle" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Dolch" and "dolle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dolch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dolle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,017,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dolch" and "dolle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dolby vs dolle". 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 #1,017,282 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.