Which to use
“wollen” and “wühlen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #182
- “wollen” frequency rank
- #30,397
- “wühlen” frequency rank
- 30579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wollen | wühlen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | entschieden haben und deswegen vorhaben beziehungsweise den Vorsatz haben, etwas zu tun, um etwas zu erlangen oder zu erreichen | meist mit technischen Hilfsmitteln im Erdboden graben |
Where the eye mixes wollen and wühlen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wollen and wühlen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wollen vs wühlen
A purely visual mix-up. wollen ([ˈvɔlən]) and wühlen ([ˈvyːlən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wollen is recorded at frequency rank #182, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔlən]. wühlen is at rank #30,397, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːlən].
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 30579, this pair ranks #1,745,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wollen vs wühlen
Shared letters: elnw. Private to "wollen": o. Private to "wühlen": hü.
"wollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wollen ← owllen · wlolen · woleln · wolen · wollenn · wollne · wwollen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wollen" for "wühlen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wollen" vs "wühlen" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wollen" and "wühlen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wühlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,745,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wollen" and "wühlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs wühlen". 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 #1,745,057 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.