villevsvollemWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ville is a noun, vollem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#32,847
“ville” frequency rank
#6,874
“vollem” frequency rank
39721
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ville vollem
Definition Stadt, Ort Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs voll

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ville and vollem apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
ville
6 ch
vollem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ville is [vil] while vollem is [ˈfɔləm]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ville is recorded at frequency rank #32,847, classified as anoun, pronounced [vil]. vollem is at rank #6,874, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔləm].

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 39721, this pair ranks #1,528,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ville vs vollem

Shared letters: elv. Private to "ville": i. Private to "vollem": mo.

"ville" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "vollem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • villeivlle · vilel · vlile · vville
  • vollemovllem · vlolem · volelm · volem · vollemm · vollme · vvollem

Frequency comparison

ville#32,847
vollem#6,874

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ville" and "vollem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ville" is a noun and "vollem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ville" or "vollem"?
"vollem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,874 in our German list, against #32,847 for "ville". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ville vs vollem

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ville”; for an adjective, it's “vollem”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ville” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list