tollvstollemWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#785
“toll” frequency rank
#44,973
“tollem” frequency rank
45758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature toll tollem
Definition einfältig bis verrückt Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs toll

Where the eye mixes toll and tollem

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

4 ch
toll
6 ch
tollem

Why the eye confuses toll with tollem

A purely visual mix-up. toll ([tɔl]) and tollem ([ˈtɔləm]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “toll” sits inside “tollem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

toll is recorded at frequency rank #785, classified as anadj, pronounced [tɔl]. tollem is at rank #44,973, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔləm].

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 45758, this pair ranks #1,342,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of toll vs tollem

Shared letters: lot. Private to "toll": -. Private to "tollem": em.

"toll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tollem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toll ← otll · tlol · tol · ttoll
  • tollem ← otllem · tlolem · tolelm · tolem · tollemm · tollme · ttollem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "toll" for "tollem" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([tɔl] versus [ˈtɔləm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "toll" or "tollem"?
"toll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #785 in our German list, against #44,973 for "tollem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "toll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tollem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,342,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "toll" and "tollem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tollem vs Totem". 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 #1,342,208 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