VolkesvsvollesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,039
“Volkes” frequency rank
#11,354
“volles” frequency rank
16393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Volkes volles
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Volk Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs voll

Where the eye mixes Volkes and volles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Volkes and volles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Volkes
6 ch
volles

Why the eye confuses Volkes with volles

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Volkes is [ˈfɔlkəs] while volles is [ˈfɔləs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “Volkes” becomes l in “volles”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Volkes is recorded at frequency rank #5,039, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔlkəs]. volles is at rank #11,354, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔləs].

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 16393, this pair ranks #1,936,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Volkes vs volles

Shared letters: elosv. Private to "Volkes": k. Private to "volles": -.

"Volkes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "volles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Volkesovlkes · vlokes · vokles · voleks · volkess · volkkes · volkse · vollkes
  • vollesovlles · vloles · volels · voles · volless · vollse · vvolles

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Volkes" for "volles" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Volkes" is a noun and "volles" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Volkes" or "volles" show up more?
"Volkes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,039 in our German list, against #11,354 for "volles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Volkes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "volles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,936,219 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Volkes" and "volles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "volles vs völliges". 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 #1,936,219 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