Which to use
“role” is a noun and “roll” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,998
- “role” frequency rank
- #8,933
- “roll” frequency rank
- 44931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | role | roll |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Rolle | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rollen |
Letter map: role vs roll
Shared letters muted; letters that set role and roll apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Role in the sentence - role and roll
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: role is anoun and rollaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “role” becomes l in “roll”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
role is recorded at frequency rank #35,998, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. roll is at rank #8,933, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁɔl].
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 44931, this pair ranks #1,369,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of role vs roll
Shared letters: lor. Private to "role": e. Private to "roll": -.
"role" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "roll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "role" for "roll" ever safe?
Which is more common, "role" or "roll"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "role" and "roll".
- Full dictionary entry for "role" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,369,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "role" and "roll" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs role". 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 #1,369,988 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.