TölzvsTorWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Tölz is a name, Tor is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Tölz” is a name and “Tor” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,337
“Tölz” frequency rank
#1,373
“Tor” frequency rank
24710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tölz Tor
Definition Bad Tölz; eine Stadt in Bayern, Deutschland großer Zugang, großer Durchgang; bewegliches Bauteil, mit dem dieser Zugang geöffnet und geschlossen werden kann; Bauwerk, das einen Durchgang umschließt, meist als Bestandteil eines Eigennamens

Where the eye mixes Tölz and Tor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Tölz runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Tor's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Tölz
3 ch
Tor

Visual trap between Tölz and Tor

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tölz is [ˈtœlt͡s] while Tor is [toːɐ̯]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tölz is recorded at frequency rank #23,337, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈtœlt͡s]. Tor is at rank #1,373, tagged as anoun, pronounced [toːɐ̯].

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 24710, this pair ranks #1,843,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tölz vs Tor

Shared letters: t. Private to "Tölz": lzö. Private to "Tor": or.

"Tölz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Tor" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tölz" for "Tor" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tölz" is a name and "Tor" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Tölz" or "Tor" show up more?
"Tor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,373 in our German list, against #23,337 for "Tölz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tölz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,843,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tölz" and "Tor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tölz vs Tons". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,843,828 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