stillervsStollenTell them apart

Quick tell: stiller is a adjective, Stollen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stiller” is an adjective and “Stollen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,942
“stiller” frequency rank
#17,422
“Stollen” frequency rank
32364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stiller Stollen
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs still unterirdischer, waagerechter Gang

Where the eye mixes stiller and Stollen

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

7 ch
stiller
7 ch
Stollen

Look-alike desk: stiller vs Stollen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stiller is [ˈʃtɪlɐ] while Stollen is [ˈʃtɔlən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stiller is recorded at frequency rank #14,942, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtɪlɐ]. 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 32364, this pair ranks #1,709,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stiller vs Stollen

Shared letters: elst. Private to "stiller": ir. Private to "Stollen": no.

"stiller" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Stollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stillersitller · sstiller · stilelr · stiler · stillerr · stillre · stliler · sttiller
  • Stollensotllen · sstollen · stlolen · stoleln · stolen · stollenn · stollne · sttollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stiller" and "Stollen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stiller" is an adjective and "Stollen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stiller" or "Stollen" show up more?
"stiller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,942 in our German list, against #17,422 for "Stollen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stiller" 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 #1,709,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stiller" 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 #1,709,228 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