Which to use
“Totem” is a noun and “totes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,185
- “Totem” frequency rank
- #26,196
- “totes” frequency rank
- 68381
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Totem | totes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Lebewesen, eine Pflanze oder ein Tier, das als der Urahn, als der heilige Vorfahr angesehen wird (in animistischen Völkern) | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tot |
Where the eye mixes Totem and totes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Totem and totes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Totem vs totes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Totem is [ˈtoːtɛm] while totes is [ˈtoːtəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “Totem” becomes s in “totes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Totem is recorded at frequency rank #42,185, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtoːtɛm]. totes is at rank #26,196, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtoːtəs].
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 68381, this pair ranks #509,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Totem vs totes
Shared letters: eot. Private to "Totem": m. Private to "totes": s.
"Totem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "totes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Totem" for "totes" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Totem" or "totes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Totem" and "totes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Totem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "totes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Totem" and "totes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tollem vs Totem". 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 #509,632 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.