VolkervsvollenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,329
“Volker” frequency rank
#3,930
“vollen” frequency rank
9259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Volker vollen
Definition männlicher Vorname Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs voll

Where the eye mixes Volker and vollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Volker
6 ch
vollen

Why the eye confuses Volker with vollen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Volker is [ˈfɔlkɐ] while vollen is [ˈfɔlən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Volker is recorded at frequency rank #5,329, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈfɔlkɐ]. vollen is at rank #3,930, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔlən].

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 9259, this pair ranks #1,980,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Volker vs vollen

Shared letters: elov. Private to "Volker": kr. Private to "vollen": n.

"Volker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "vollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Volkerovlker · vloker · vokler · volekr · volkerr · volkker · volkre · vollker
  • vollenovllen · vlolen · voleln · volen · vollenn · vollne · vvollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Volker" for "vollen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Volker" is a name and "vollen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Volker" or "vollen"?
"vollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,930 in our German list, against #5,329 for "Volker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Volker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Volker" and "vollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vollen vs vollsten". 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 #1,980,753 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