Which to use
“welch” is a pronoun and “welke” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,845
- “welch” frequency rank
- #47,128
- “welke” frequency rank
- 51973
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | welch | welke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit unmittelbar folgendem Adjektiv: Wort zur besonderen Hervorhebung einer Eigenschaft | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs welk |
Where the eye mixes welch and welke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. welch (CVCCC) and welke (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between welch and welke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welch is [vɛlç] 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51973, 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]. 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 51973, this pair ranks #1,114,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of welch vs welke
Shared letters: elw. Private to "welch": ch. Private to "welke": k.
"welch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "welke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "welch" for "welke" ever safe?
Which is more common, "welch" or "welke"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "welch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "welke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,114,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "welch" and "welke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehte 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 #1,114,842 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.