vollvsvoorWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: voll is a adjective, voor is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“voll” is an adjective and “voor” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#591
“voll” frequency rank
#47,106
“voor” frequency rank
47697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voll voor
Definition mit etwas so vollständig gefüllt, dass absolut nichts mehr hinein passt oder hinein darf oder hinein gehört gibt eine zeitliche/örtliche Reihenfolge an

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set voll and voor apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
voll
4 ch
voor

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: voll is [fɔl] while voor is [voːr]. 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 (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voll is recorded at frequency rank #591, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɔl]. voor is at rank #47,106, tagged as aprep, pronounced [voːr].

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 47697, this pair ranks #1,275,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of voll vs voor

Shared letters: ov. Private to "voll": l. Private to "voor": r.

"voll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "voor" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vollovll · vlol · vvoll
  • voorovor · voorr · voro · vvoor

Frequency comparison

voll#591
voor#47,106

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "voll" and "voor" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "voll" is an adjective and "voor" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "voll" or "voor"?
"voll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #591 in our German list, against #47,106 for "voor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering voll vs voor

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “voll”; for a preposition, it's “voor”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “voll” 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