WelservsWetterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Welser” and “Wetter” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,947
“Welser” frequency rank
#1,496
“Wetter” frequency rank
44443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Welser Wetter
Definition Angehöriger einer Patrizierfamilie von Großkaufleuten, die aus Augsburg und Nürnberg stammt aktueller Zustand der Atmosphäre an einem bestimmten Ort und zu einer bestimmten Zeit

Where the eye mixes Welser and Wetter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Welser and Wetter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Welser
6 ch
Wetter

Visual trap between Welser and Wetter

A purely visual mix-up. Welser ([ˈvɛlzɐ]) and Wetter ([ˈvɛtɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Welser is recorded at frequency rank #42,947, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛlzɐ]. Wetter is at rank #1,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛtɐ].

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 44443, this pair ranks #1,386,036 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Welser vs Wetter

Shared letters: erw. Private to "Welser": ls. Private to "Wetter": t.

"Welser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Wetter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Welser ← ewlser · welesr · wellser · welserr · welsre · welsser · wesler · wleser
  • Wetter ← ewtter · weter · wetetr · wetterr · wettre · wteter · wwetter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Welser" for "Wetter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛlzɐ] versus [ˈvɛtɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Welser" vs "Wetter" - which ranks higher?
"Wetter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,496 in our German list, against #42,947 for "Welser". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Welser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wetter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,386,036 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Welser" and "Wetter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weaver vs Welser". 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 #1,386,036 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list