Which to use
“Weiche” is a noun and “welchen” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,485
- “Weiche” frequency rank
- #1,277
- “welchen” frequency rank
- 10762
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Weiche | welchen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weiche Beschaffenheit | Akkusativ Singular des Pronomens welcher |
Where the eye mixes Weiche and welchen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Weiche runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against welchen's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Weiche and welchen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Weiche is [ˈvaɪ̯çə] while welchen is [ˈvɛlçn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Weiche is recorded at frequency rank #9,485, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çə]. welchen is at rank #1,277, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈvɛlçn̩].
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 10762, this pair ranks #1,973,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Weiche vs welchen
Shared letters: cehw. Private to "Weiche": i. Private to "welchen": ln.
"Weiche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "welchen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Weiche" for "welchen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Weiche" vs "welchen" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Weiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "welchen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,973,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Weiche" and "welchen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weiche vs Wichse". 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 #1,973,446 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.