rodenvsrollenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,337
“roden” frequency rank
#2,610
“rollen” frequency rank
36947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roden rollen
Definition einen Wald durch Fällen der Bäume und Ausgraben der Wurzeln urbar machen während einer Vor- oder Rückwärtsbewegung sich selbst um die eigene Achse drehen; die Bewegung eines Rades

Where the eye mixes roden and rollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. roden runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against rollen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
roden
6 ch
rollen

Why the eye confuses roden with rollen

A purely visual mix-up. roden ([ˈʁoːdn̩]) and rollen ([ˈʁɔlən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roden is recorded at frequency rank #34,337, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁoːdn̩]. rollen is at rank #2,610, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɔlən].

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 36947, this pair ranks #1,602,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of roden vs rollen

Shared letters: enor. Private to "roden": d. Private to "rollen": l.

"roden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roden ← rdoen · rodden · rodenn · rodne · roedn · rroden
  • rollen ← orllen · rlolen · roleln · rolen · rollenn · rollne · rrollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "roden" and "rollen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁoːdn̩] versus [ˈʁɔlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "roden" vs "rollen" - which ranks higher?
"rollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,610 in our German list, against #34,337 for "roden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "roden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,602,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roden" and "rollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ramen vs roden". 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 #1,602,630 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