weiltevsWelleWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: weilte is a verb, Welle is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weilte” is a verb and “Welle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,422
“weilte” frequency rank
#4,315
“Welle” frequency rank
33737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weilte Welle
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs weilen Erhebung von Wasser

Where the eye mixes weilte and Welle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
weilte
5 ch
Welle

Why the eye confuses weilte with Welle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weilte is [ˈvaɪ̯ltə] while Welle is [ˈvɛlə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weilte is recorded at frequency rank #29,422, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ltə]. Welle is at rank #4,315, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛlə].

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 33737, this pair ranks #1,679,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weilte vs Welle

Shared letters: elw. Private to "weilte": it. Private to "Welle": -.

"weilte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "Welle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weilteewilte · weilet · weillte · weiltte · weitle · welite · wielte · wweilte
  • Welleewlle · wele · welel · wlele · wwelle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weilte" and "Welle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weilte" is a verb and "Welle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "weilte" vs "Welle" - which ranks higher?
"Welle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,315 in our German list, against #29,422 for "weilte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "weilte" and "Welle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weilte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Welle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,679,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weilte" and "Welle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilte vs welke". 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 #1,679,193 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