WohlevsWolleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,000
“Wohle” frequency rank
#2,631
“Wolle” frequency rank
17631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wohle Wolle
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Wohl aus Tierhaaren gewonnenes Produkt für die Herstellung von Garn

Where the eye mixes Wohle and Wolle

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

5 ch
Wohle
5 ch
Wolle

Look-alike desk: Wohle vs Wolle

A purely visual mix-up. Wohle ([ˈvoːlə]) and Wolle ([ˈvɔlə]) 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 a single letter - h in “Wohle” becomes l in “Wolle”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wohle is recorded at frequency rank #15,000, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvoːlə]. Wolle is at rank #2,631, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔlə].

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 17631, this pair ranks #1,925,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wohle vs Wolle

Shared letters: elow. Private to "Wohle": h. Private to "Wolle": -.

"Wohle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Wolle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wohleowhle · whole · wohel · wohhle · wohlle · wolhe · wwohle
  • Wolleowlle · wlole · wole · wolel · wwolle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wohle" for "Wolle" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvoːlə] versus [ˈvɔlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Wohle" vs "Wolle" - which ranks higher?
"Wolle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,631 in our German list, against #15,000 for "Wohle". 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 "Wohle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wolle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,925,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wohle" and "Wolle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehte vs Wohle". 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 #1,925,680 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