völligvsvölligeTell them apart

Which to use

“völlig” and “völlige” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#610
“völlig” frequency rank
#16,600
“völlige” frequency rank
17210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature völlig völlige
Definition gänzlich, vollständig, im höchst möglichen Maß, Grad Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs völlig

Where the eye mixes völlig and völlige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
völlig
7 ch
völlige

Look-alike desk: völlig vs völlige

A purely visual mix-up. völlig ([ˈfœlɪç]) and völlige ([ˈfœlɪɡə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “völlig” sits inside “völlige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

völlig is recorded at frequency rank #610, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfœlɪç]. völlige is at rank #16,600, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfœlɪɡə].

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 17210, this pair ranks #1,929,394 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of völlig vs völlige

Shared letters: gilvö. Private to "völlig": -. Private to "völlige": e.

"völlig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "völlige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "völlig" and "völlige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfœlɪç] versus [ˈfœlɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "völlig" vs "völlige" - which ranks higher?
"völlig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #610 in our German list, against #16,600 for "völlige". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "völlig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "völlige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929,394 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "völlig" and "völlige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "völlige vs völliges". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,929,394 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