OttvsotteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ott is a name, otte is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ott” is a name and “otte” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,244
“Ott” frequency rank
#38,325
“otte” frequency rank
54569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ott otte
Definition deutscher Familienname acht

Where the eye mixes Ott and otte

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

3 ch
Ott
4 ch
otte

Why the eye confuses Ott with otte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ott is [ɔt] while otte is [ˈo̜ːdə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Ott” sits inside “otte”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ott is recorded at frequency rank #16,244, classified as aname, pronounced [ɔt]. otte is at rank #38,325, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈo̜ːdə].

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 54569, this pair ranks #1,013,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ott vs otte

Shared letters: ot. Private to "Ott": -. Private to "otte": e.

"Ott" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "otte" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • otteote · otet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ott" and "otte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ott" is a name and "otte" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Ott" or "otte" show up more?
"Ott" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,244 in our German list, against #38,325 for "otte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ott" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "otte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,013,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ott" and "otte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "otte vs Outs". 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 #1,013,733 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