wollen

/[ˈvɔlən]/ verb

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#182

in German word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

wollen is aGermanverb. It means: entschieden haben und deswegen vorhaben beziehungsweise den Vorsatz haben, etwas zu tun, um etwas zu erlangen oder zu erreichen Pronounced [ˈvɔlən]. It ranks #182 in German word frequency. Often confused with wollt and women.

Key facts for wollen
PropertyValue
Headwordwollen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈvɔlən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#182
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of wollen in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for wollen is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈvɔlən]. Corpus data places it at rank #182 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for wollen, with forms such as "owllen", "wlolen", and "woleln". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wollt", "women", "worden", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is wollen, spelled W-O-L-L-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    entschieden haben und deswegen vorhaben beziehungsweise den Vorsatz haben, etwas zu tun, um etwas zu erlangen oder zu erreichen
  2. 2
    nur den Wunsch nach etwas haben, danach verlangen, es begehren, sich danach (nur) sehnen
  3. 3
    drückt Distanz/Zweifel an einer wiedergegebenen Aussage aus
  4. 4
    freundlich auffordern, sollen (abgeschwächt), oft mit „bitte“, auch appellierend

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: owllen,wlolen,woleln,wolen,wollenn,wollne,wwollen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for wollen

Misspelling Variants of "wollen"

owllen6wlolen6woleln6wolen5wollenn7wollne6wwollen7
Misspelling Variants of "wollen"

Frequency rank: #182 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wollen"?
"wollen" is spelled W-O-L-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈvɔlən].
What does "wollen" mean?
As a verb, "wollen" means: entschieden haben und deswegen vorhaben beziehungsweise den Vorsatz haben, etwas zu tun, um etwas zu erlangen oder zu erreichen
What words are commonly confused with "wollen"?
"wollen" is commonly confused with "wollt", "women", "worden". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wollen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wollen" is [ˈvɔlən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wollen" come from?
"wollen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our German index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.