StällenvsStollenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,054
“Ställen” frequency rank
#17,422
“Stollen” frequency rank
56476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ställen Stollen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stall unterirdischer, waagerechter Gang

Where the eye mixes Ställen and Stollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Ställen
7 ch
Stollen

Why the eye confuses Ställen with Stollen

A purely visual mix-up. Ställen ([ˈʃtɛlən]) and Stollen ([ˈʃtɔlən]) 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 a single letter - ä in “Ställen” becomes o in “Stollen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ställen is recorded at frequency rank #39,054, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlən]. Stollen is at rank #17,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɔlən].

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 56476, this pair ranks #938,673 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ställen vs Stollen

Shared letters: elnst. Private to "Ställen": ä. Private to "Stollen": o.

"Ställen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Stollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stollensotllen · sstollen · stlolen · stoleln · stolen · stollenn · stollne · sttollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ställen" for "Stollen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛlən] versus [ˈʃtɔlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ställen" vs "Stollen" - which ranks higher?
"Stollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,422 in our German list, against #39,054 for "Ställen". 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 "Ställen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #938,673 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ställen" and "Stollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ställen vs Stilen". 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 #938,673 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