Which to use
“welchen” is an unknown and “wischen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,277
- “welchen” frequency rank
- #18,766
- “wischen” frequency rank
- 20043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | welchen | wischen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular des Pronomens welcher | etwas, zum Beispiel Schmutz von einer Oberfläche, entfernen, eventuell mit einem Lappen |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set welchen and wischen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
welchen and wischen form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
welchen is recorded at frequency rank #1,277, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈvɛlçn̩]. wischen is at rank #18,766, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪʃn̩].
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 20043, this pair ranks #1,901,907 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "welchen" and "wischen" be used interchangeably?
Remembering welchen vs wischen
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “welchen”; for a verb, it's “wischen”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “welchen” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable