Which to use
“welche” is a pronoun and “welke” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #262
- “welche” frequency rank
- #47,128
- “welke” frequency rank
- 47390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | welche | welke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Interrogativpronomen (Fragepronomen) | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs welk |
Where the eye mixes welche and welke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. welche runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against welke's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses welche with welke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welche is [ˈvɛlçə] while welke is [ˈvɛlkə]. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
welche is recorded at frequency rank #262, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈvɛlçə]. 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 47390, this pair ranks #1,285,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of welche vs welke
Shared letters: elw. Private to "welche": ch. Private to "welke": k.
"welche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "welke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "welche" and "welke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "welche" or "welke"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "welche" and "welke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "welche" 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 #1,285,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "welche" 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 #1,285,938 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.