offenvsollenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“offen” and “ollen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#888
“offen” frequency rank
#36,536
“ollen” frequency rank
37424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature offen ollen
Definition nicht geschlossen, zum Beispiel als Zustandsbeschreibung einer Eingangsmöglichkeit Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs oll

Where the eye mixes offen and ollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
offen
5 ch
ollen

Visual trap between offen and ollen

A purely visual mix-up. offen ([ˈɔfn̩]) and ollen ([ˈɔlən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

offen is recorded at frequency rank #888, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔfn̩]. ollen is at rank #36,536, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔlən].

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 37424, this pair ranks #1,590,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of offen vs ollen

Shared letters: eno. Private to "offen": f. Private to "ollen": l.

"offen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "ollen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • offenfofen · ofefn · offenn · offne
  • ollenlolen · oleln · olen · ollenn · ollne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "offen" and "ollen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɔfn̩] versus [ˈɔlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "offen" vs "ollen" - which ranks higher?
"offen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #888 in our German list, against #36,536 for "ollen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "offen" and "ollen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "offen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "offen" and "ollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Oasen vs ollen". 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 #1,590,625 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