vollemvsvollerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,874
“vollem” frequency rank
#1,310
“voller” frequency rank
8184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vollem voller
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs voll angefüllt mit; mit sehr viel

Where the eye mixes vollem and voller

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

6 ch
vollem
6 ch
voller

Why the eye confuses vollem with voller

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vollem is [ˈfɔləm] while voller is [ˈfɔlɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “vollem” becomes r in “voller”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vollem is recorded at frequency rank #6,874, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔləm]. voller is at rank #1,310, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈfɔlɐ].

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 8184, this pair ranks #1,985,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vollem vs voller

Shared letters: elov. Private to "vollem": m. Private to "voller": r.

"vollem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "voller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vollem ← ovllem · vlolem · volelm · volem · vollemm · vollme · vvollem
  • voller ← ovller · vloler · volelr · voler · vollerr · vollre · vvoller

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vollem" for "voller" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vollem" is an adjective and "voller" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vollem" vs "voller" - which ranks higher?
"voller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,310 in our German list, against #6,874 for "vollem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vollem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vollem" and "voller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vollem vs Volley". 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 #1,985,295 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