sollen

\ˈzɔ.lən\

/\ˈzɔ.lən\/ verb

The verdict

“sollen” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Devoir, être obligé (de faire quelque chose).

Corpus desk

Index FR-sollen · sollen · French

sollen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for sollen
PropertyValue
Headwordsollen
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ˈzɔ.lən\
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « sollen » en français

sollensiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sollen is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ˈzɔ.lən\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for sollen, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is sollen, spelled S-O-L-L-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Devoir, être obligé (de faire quelque chose).
  2. 2
    « on dit que », on rapporte que ; supposément, être censé de, verbe au conditionnel.
  3. 3
    Verbe modal pour exprimer une recommandation, dans ce cas, sollen est employé en conditionnel:

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sollen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ich soll das machen.
  2. Ich sollte das nicht tun.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sollen"?
"sollen" is spelled S-O-L-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈzɔ.lən\.
What does "sollen" mean?
As a verb, "sollen" means: Devoir, être obligé (de faire quelque chose).
How do you pronounce "sollen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sollen" is \ˈzɔ.lən\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sollen" come from?
"sollen" is a French 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list