TellernvstollerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Tellern is a noun, toller is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#44,271
“Tellern” frequency rank
#4,234
“toller” frequency rank
48505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tellern toller
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Teller Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs toll

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Tellern and toller apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Tellern
6 ch
toller

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tellern is [ˈtɛlɐn] while toller is [ˈtɔlɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tellern is recorded at frequency rank #44,271, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɛlɐn]. toller is at rank #4,234, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔlɐ].

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 48505, this pair ranks #1,246,119 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tellern vs toller

Shared letters: elrt. Private to "Tellern": n. Private to "toller": o.

"Tellern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "toller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tellernetllern · telelrn · telern · tellenr · tellernn · tellerrn · tellren · tlelern
  • tollerotller · tloler · tolelr · toler · tollerr · tollre · ttoller

Frequency comparison

Tellern#44,271
toller#4,234

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tellern" and "toller" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tellern" is a noun and "toller" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Tellern" or "toller"?
"toller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,234 in our German list, against #44,271 for "Tellern". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Tellern vs toller

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Tellern”; for an adjective, it's “toller”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Tellern” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list