wolfvswolltWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: wolf is a noun, wollt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wolf” is a noun and “wollt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,277
“wolf” frequency rank
#1,718
“wollt” frequency rank
3995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wolf wollt
Definition Wolf 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wollen

Where the eye mixes wolf and wollt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
wolf
5 ch
wollt

Look-alike desk: wolf vs wollt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wolf is [wʊłf] while wollt is [vɔlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wolf is recorded at frequency rank #2,277, classified as anoun, pronounced [wʊłf]. wollt is at rank #1,718, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɔlt].

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 3995, this pair ranks #1,998,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wolf vs wollt

Shared letters: low. Private to "wolf": f. Private to "wollt": t.

"wolf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wollt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wolfowlf · wlof · wofl · wollf · wwolf
  • wolltowllt · wlolt · wolltt · wolt · woltl · wwollt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wolf" for "wollt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wolf" is a noun and "wollt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "wolf" or "wollt" show up more?
"wollt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,718 in our German list, against #2,277 for "wolf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "wolf" and "wollt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wolf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wollt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wolf" and "wollt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wok vs wolf". 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 #1,998,836 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