sollenvsstillenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#291
“sollen” frequency rank
#7,235
“stillen” frequency rank
7526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sollen stillen
Definition um das Erteilen eines Befehls oder Auftrags auszudrücken etwas (meist Bedürfnisse) beruhigen, abschwächen

Where the eye mixes sollen and stillen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sollen
7 ch
stillen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sollen ([ˈzɔlən]) and stillen ([ˈʃtɪlən]) 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 7526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sollen is recorded at frequency rank #291, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈzɔlən]. stillen is at rank #7,235, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɪlən].

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 7526, this pair ranks #1,987,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sollen vs stillen

Shared letters: elns. Private to "sollen": o. Private to "stillen": it.

"sollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "stillen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sollenosllen · slolen · soleln · solen · sollenn · sollne · ssollen
  • stillensitllen · sstillen · stileln · stillenn · stillne · stlilen · sttillen · tsillen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sollen" and "stillen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɔlən] versus [ˈʃtɪlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sollen" or "stillen"?
"sollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #291 in our German list, against #7,235 for "stillen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list