TollenvstrollenTell them apart

Quick tell: Tollen is a noun, trollen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Tollen” is a noun and “trollen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,926
“Tollen” frequency rank
#28,887
“trollen” frequency rank
31813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tollen trollen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Tolle sich (meist in eher unerfreuter Stimmung) von einem Ort entfernen, weggehen, sich wegbegeben

Where the eye mixes Tollen and trollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Tollen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against trollen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Tollen
7 ch
trollen

Look-alike desk: Tollen vs trollen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tollen is [ˈtɔlən] while trollen is [ˈtʁɔlən]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tollen is recorded at frequency rank #2,926, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɔlən]. trollen is at rank #28,887, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁɔlən].

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 31813, this pair ranks #1,720,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tollen vs trollen

Shared letters: elnot. Private to "Tollen": -. Private to "trollen": r.

"Tollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "trollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tollenotllen · tlolen · toleln · tolen · tollenn · tollne · ttollen
  • trollenrtollen · torllen · trlolen · troleln · trolen · trollenn · trollne · trrollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Tollen" and "trollen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tollen" is a noun and "trollen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Tollen" or "trollen" show up more?
"Tollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,926 in our German list, against #28,887 for "trollen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,720,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tollen" and "trollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tollem vs trollen". 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 #1,720,480 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