Which to use
“welch” is a pronoun and “welchen” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,845
- “welch” frequency rank
- #1,277
- “welchen” frequency rank
- 6122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | welch | welchen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit unmittelbar folgendem Adjektiv: Wort zur besonderen Hervorhebung einer Eigenschaft | Akkusativ Singular des Pronomens welcher |
Where the eye mixes welch and welchen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. welch runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against welchen's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: welch vs welchen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welch is [vɛlç] while welchen is [ˈvɛlçn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “welch” sits inside “welchen”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
welch is recorded at frequency rank #4,845, classified as apron, pronounced [vɛlç]. welchen is at rank #1,277, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈvɛlçn̩].
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 6122, this pair ranks #1,992,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of welch vs welchen
Shared letters: cehlw. Private to "welch": -. Private to "welchen": n.
"welch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "welchen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "welch" and "welchen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "welch" or "welchen" show up more?
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 "welch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "welchen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,992,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "welch" and "welchen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "welch vs witch". 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 #1,992,647 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.