StollvsstowConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#41,394
“Stoll” frequency rank
#26,977
“stow” frequency rank
68371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Stoll stow
Definition A surname from German. A place, stead.

Letter map: Stoll vs stow

Shared letters muted; letters that set Stoll and stow apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Stoll runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against stow's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Stoll
4 ch
stow

Grammar separator: Stoll vs stow

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Stoll is aname and stowanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Stoll is recorded at frequency rank #41,394, classified as aname. stow is at rank #26,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stoʊ/.

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 68371, this pair ranks #59,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Stoll vs stow

Shared letters: ost. Private to "Stoll": l. Private to "stow": w.

"Stoll" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "stow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Stoll ← sotll · sstoll · stlol · sttoll · tsoll
  • stow ← sotw · sstow · stoww · sttow · stwo · tsow

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Stoll" and "stow" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Stoll" is a name and "stow" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Stoll" or "stow"?
"stow" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,977 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

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Stoll" and "stow".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Stoll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Stoll" and "stow" 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 #59,157 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