weichemvswelcherWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: weichem is a adjective, welcher is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weichem” is an adjective and “welcher” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,573
“weichem” frequency rank
#805
“welcher” frequency rank
42378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weichem welcher
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs weich ein Interrogativpronomen (Fragepronomen)

Where the eye mixes weichem and welcher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. weichem (CVVCCVC) and welcher (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
weichem
7 ch
welcher

Why the eye confuses weichem with welcher

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weichem is [ˈvaɪ̯çm̩] while welcher is [ˈvɛlçɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42378, 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]. welcher is at rank #805, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈvɛlçɐ].

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 42378, this pair ranks #1,451,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of weichem vs welcher

Shared letters: cehw. Private to "weichem": im. Private to "welcher": lr.

"weichem" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "welcher" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weichem ← ewichem · wecihem · weicchem · weicehm · weichemm · weichhem · weichme · weihcem
  • welcher ← ewlcher · weclher · welccher · welcehr · welcherr · welchher · welchre · welhcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "weichem" and "welcher" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weichem" is an adjective and "welcher" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "weichem" vs "welcher" - which ranks higher?
"welcher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #805 in our German list, against #41,573 for "weichem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weichem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "welcher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,451,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weichem" and "welcher" 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 #1,451,235 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list