Which to use
“welke” is an adjective and “Werke” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,128
- “welke” frequency rank
- #1,530
- “Werke” frequency rank
- 48658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | welke | Werke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs welk | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Werk |
Where the eye mixes welke and Werke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses welke with Werke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welke is [ˈvɛlkə] while Werke is [ˈvɛʁkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “welke” becomes r in “Werke”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48658, 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]. Werke is at rank #1,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛʁkə].
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 48658, this pair ranks #1,240,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of welke vs Werke
Shared letters: ekw. Private to "welke": l. Private to "Werke": r.
"welke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Werke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "welke" and "Werke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "welke" or "Werke" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "welke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Werke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,240,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "welke" and "Werke" 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 #1,240,414 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.