welkevswerfeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: welke is a adjective, werfe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“welke” is an adjective and “werfe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,128
“welke” frequency rank
#13,739
“werfe” frequency rank
60867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature welke werfe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs welk 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werfen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set welke and werfe apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
welke
5 ch
werfe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

welke and werfe 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 60867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

welke is recorded at frequency rank #47,128, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɛlkə]. werfe is at rank #13,739, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛʁfə].

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 60867, this pair ranks #770,955 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

welke#47,128
werfe#13,739

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "welke" and "werfe" be used interchangeably?
No, "welke" and "werfe" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering welke vs werfe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “welke”; for a verb, it's “werfe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “welke” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list