Which to use
“ollen” is an adjective and “outen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,536
- “ollen” frequency rank
- #35,369
- “outen” frequency rank
- 71905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ollen | outen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs oll | etwas bis dahin Verheimlichtes über sich bekennen, bekannt machen |
Where the eye mixes ollen and outen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ollen with outen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ollen is [ˈɔlən] while outen is [ˈaʊ̯tn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ollen is recorded at frequency rank #36,536, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔlən]. outen is at rank #35,369, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯tn̩].
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 71905, this pair ranks #403,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ollen vs outen
Shared letters: eno. Private to "ollen": l. Private to "outen": tu.
"ollen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "outen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ollen" and "outen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "ollen" or "outen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ollen" and "outen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ollen" and "outen" 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 #403,459 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.