Which to use
“weichem” is an adjective and “welchem” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,573
- “weichem” frequency rank
- #1,795
- “welchem” frequency rank
- 43368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weichem | welchem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs weich | Dativ Singular des Pronomens welcher |
Where the eye mixes weichem and welchem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. weichem (CVVCCVC) and welchem (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between weichem and welchem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weichem is [ˈvaɪ̯çm̩] while welchem is [ˈvɛlçəm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “weichem” becomes l in “welchem”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weichem is recorded at frequency rank #41,573, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯çm̩]. welchem is at rank #1,795, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈvɛlçəm].
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 43368, this pair ranks #1,420,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of weichem vs welchem
Shared letters: cehmw. Private to "weichem": i. Private to "welchem": l.
"weichem" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "welchem" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "weichem" for "welchem" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "weichem" or "welchem" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "weichem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "welchem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,420,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weichem" and "welchem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weichei vs weichem". 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 #1,420,311 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.