TellervsTolleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,013
“Teller” frequency rank
#1,338
“Tolle” frequency rank
7351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teller Tolle
Definition runder, meist flacher Teil des Essgeschirrs, auf dem die Speisen vor dem Verzehr angerichtet werden Frisur, bei der der lange vordere Haarschopf wellenartig nach oben gekämmt oder geföhnt wird

Where the eye mixes Teller and Tolle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Teller runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Tolle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Teller
5 ch
Tolle

Visual trap between Teller and Tolle

A purely visual mix-up. Teller ([ˈtɛlɐ]) and Tolle ([ˈtɔlə]) 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 7351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teller is recorded at frequency rank #6,013, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɛlɐ]. Tolle is at rank #1,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɔlə].

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 7351, this pair ranks #1,988,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teller vs Tolle

Shared letters: elt. Private to "Teller": r. Private to "Tolle": o.

"Teller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Tolle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Telleretller · telelr · teler · tellerr · tellre · tleler · tteller
  • Tolleotlle · tlole · tole · tolel · ttolle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teller" and "Tolle" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtɛlɐ] versus [ˈtɔlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Teller" or "Tolle" show up more?
"Tolle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,338 in our German list, against #6,013 for "Teller". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Teller" and "Tolle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Teller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tolle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teller" and "Tolle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Teller vs tollem". 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 #1,988,471 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