Which to use
“tolles” is an adjective and “trollen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,622
- “tolles” frequency rank
- #28,887
- “trollen” frequency rank
- 32509
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tolles | trollen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs toll | sich (meist in eher unerfreuter Stimmung) von einem Ort entfernen, weggehen, sich wegbegeben |
Where the eye mixes tolles and trollen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tolles 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.
Visual trap between tolles and trollen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tolles is [ˈtɔləs] 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32509, 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]. 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 32509, this pair ranks #1,706,068 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tolles vs trollen
Shared letters: elot. Private to "tolles": s. Private to "trollen": nr.
"tolles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "trollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tolles" and "trollen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "tolles" or "trollen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tolles" and "trollen" 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 "trollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,706,068 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tolles" 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 #1,706,068 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.