StellevsStollenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#525
“Stelle” frequency rank
#17,422
“Stollen” frequency rank
17947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stelle Stollen
Definition berufliche Anstellung; Arbeitsplatz unterirdischer, waagerechter Gang

Where the eye mixes Stelle and Stollen

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

6 ch
Stelle
7 ch
Stollen

Why the eye confuses Stelle with Stollen

A purely visual mix-up. Stelle ([ˈʃtɛlə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stelle is recorded at frequency rank #525, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlə]. 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 17947, this pair ranks #1,922,810 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Stelle vs Stollen

Shared letters: elst. Private to "Stelle": -. Private to "Stollen": no.

"Stelle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Stollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stellesetlle · sstelle · stelel · stlele · sttelle · tselle
  • Stollensotllen · sstollen · stlolen · stoleln · stolen · stollenn · stollne · sttollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stelle" and "Stollen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtɛlə] versus [ˈʃtɔlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Stelle" or "Stollen"?
"Stelle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #525 in our German list, against #17,422 for "Stollen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stelle" 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 #1,922,810 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stelle" and "Stollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stollen". 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 #1,922,810 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