stolevsStollWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: stole is a verb, Stoll is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stole” is a verb and “Stoll” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,087
“stole” frequency rank
#41,394
“Stoll” frequency rank
46481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stole Stoll
Definition simple past of steal A surname from German.

Letter map: stole vs Stoll

Shared letters muted; letters that set stole and Stoll apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. stole (CCVCV) and Stoll (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
stole
5 ch
Stoll

Role in the sentence - stole and Stoll

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stole is averb and Stollaname. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “stole” becomes l in “Stoll”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stole is recorded at frequency rank #5,087, classified as averb, pronounced /stəʊl/. Stoll is at rank #41,394, tagged as aname.

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 46481, this pair ranks #211,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stole vs Stoll

Shared letters: lost. Private to "stole": e. Private to "Stoll": -.

"stole" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Stoll" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stole ← sotle · sstole · stloe · stoel · stolle · sttole · tsole
  • Stoll ← sotll · sstoll · stlol · sttoll · tsoll

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stole" and "Stoll" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stole" is a verb and "Stoll" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "stole" vs "Stoll" - which ranks higher?
"stole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,087 in our English list, against #41,394 for "Stoll". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "stole" vs "Stoll" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stoll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #211,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stole" and "Stoll" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shill vs Stoll". 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 #211,345 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list