TölzvstotTell them apart

Quick tell: Tölz is a name, tot is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#23,337
“Tölz” frequency rank
#1,525
“tot” frequency rank
24862
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tölz tot
Definition Bad Tölz; eine Stadt in Bayern, Deutschland nicht (mehr) lebend

Where the eye mixes Tölz and tot

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

4 ch
Tölz
3 ch
tot

Look-alike desk: Tölz vs tot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tölz is [ˈtœlt͡s] while tot is [toːt]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24862, 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]. tot is at rank #1,525, tagged as anadj, pronounced [toːt].

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 24862, this pair ranks #1,841,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tölz vs tot

Shared letters: t. Private to "Tölz": lzö. Private to "tot": o.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tölz" and "tot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tölz" is a name and "tot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Tölz" vs "tot" - which ranks higher?
"tot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,525 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tölz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,841,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tölz" and "tot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tölz vs Tons". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,841,568 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