weitervsWelserWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: weiter is a adjective, Welser is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#168
“weiter” frequency rank
#42,947
“Welser” frequency rank
43115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weiter Welser
Definition zum bereits Vorhandenen noch dazukommend, hinzugefügt Angehöriger einer Patrizierfamilie von Großkaufleuten, die aus Augsburg und Nürnberg stammt

Where the eye mixes weiter and Welser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. weiter (CVVCVC) and Welser (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
weiter
6 ch
Welser

Look-alike desk: weiter vs Welser

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weiter is [ˈvaɪ̯tɐ] while Welser is [ˈvɛlzɐ]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weiter is recorded at frequency rank #168, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯tɐ]. Welser is at rank #42,947, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛlzɐ].

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 43115, this pair ranks #1,428,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of weiter vs Welser

Shared letters: erw. Private to "weiter": it. Private to "Welser": ls.

"weiter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Welser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weiter ← ewiter · weietr · weiterr · weitre · weitter · wetier · wieter · wweiter
  • Welser ← ewlser · welesr · wellser · welserr · welsre · welsser · wesler · wleser

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "weiter" and "Welser" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weiter" is an adjective and "Welser" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "weiter" vs "Welser" - which ranks higher?
"weiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #168 in our German list, against #42,947 for "Welser". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "weiter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Welser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,428,179 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weiter" and "Welser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weaver vs Welser". 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 #1,428,179 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