nochvsnollWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: noch is a adverb, noll is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“noch” is an adverb and “noll” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36
“noch” frequency rank
#43,379
“noll” frequency rank
43415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature noch noll
Definition des Weiteren null

Where the eye mixes noch and noll

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
noch
4 ch
noll

Visual trap between noch and noll

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: noch is [nɔx] while noll is [nɔl]. 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 (adverb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

noch is recorded at frequency rank #36, classified as anadv, pronounced [nɔx]. noll is at rank #43,379, tagged as anum, pronounced [nɔl].

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 43415, this pair ranks #1,418,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of noch vs noll

Shared letters: no. Private to "noch": ch. Private to "noll": l.

"noch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "noll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nochncoh · nnoch · nocch · nochh · nohc · onch
  • nollnlol · nnoll · nol · onll

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "noch" and "noll" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "noch" is an adverb and "noll" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "noch" or "noll" show up more?
"noch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36 in our German list, against #43,379 for "noll". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "noch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "noll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,418,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "noch" and "noll" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noll vs nox". 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 #1,418,831 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list