WeihevswelkeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Weihe is a noun, welke is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Weihe” is a noun and “welke” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,789
“Weihe” frequency rank
#47,128
“welke” frequency rank
67917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Weihe welke
Definition Heiligung, Aufwertung einer Person oder Sache durch eine rituelle Zeremonie Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs welk

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Weihe and welke apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Weihe
5 ch
welke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Weihe is [ˈvaɪ̯ə] while welke is [ˈvɛlkə]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Weihe is recorded at frequency rank #20,789, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ə]. welke is at rank #47,128, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɛlkə].

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 67917, this pair ranks #524,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Weihe vs welke

Shared letters: ew. Private to "Weihe": hi. Private to "welke": kl.

"Weihe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "welke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weiheewihe · wehie · weieh · weihhe · wiehe · wweihe
  • welkeewlke · wekle · welek · welkke · wellke · wleke · wwelke

Frequency comparison

Weihe#20,789
welke#47,128

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Weihe" and "welke" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Weihe" is a noun and "welke" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Weihe" or "welke"?
"Weihe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,789 in our German list, against #47,128 for "welke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Weihe vs welke

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Weihe”; for an adjective, it's “welke”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Weihe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list