tollesvsTrolleWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,622
“tolles” frequency rank
#16,018
“Trolle” frequency rank
19640
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tolles Trolle
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs toll Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Troll

Where the eye mixes tolles and Trolle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tolles (CVCCVC) and Trolle (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
tolles
6 ch
Trolle

Visual trap between tolles and Trolle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tolles is [ˈtɔləs] while Trolle is [ˈtʁɔlə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 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 19640, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tolles is recorded at frequency rank #3,622, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔləs]. Trolle is at rank #16,018, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtʁɔlə].

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 19640, this pair ranks #1,906,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tolles vs Trolle

Shared letters: elot. Private to "tolles": s. Private to "Trolle": r.

"tolles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Trolle" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tolles ← otlles · tloles · tolels · toles · tolless · tollse · ttolles
  • Trolle ← rtolle · torlle · trlole · trole · trolel · trrolle · ttrolle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tolles" and "Trolle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tolles" is an adjective and "Trolle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tolles" or "Trolle" show up more?
"tolles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,622 in our German list, against #16,018 for "Trolle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tolles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Trolle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,906,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tolles" and "Trolle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tollem vs Trolle". 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 #1,906,185 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