Which to use
“weigh” is a verb and “welch” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,303
- “weigh” frequency rank
- #17,993
- “welch” frequency rank
- 25296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weigh | welch |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To determine the weight of an object. | A person who defaults on an obligation, especially a small one. |
Where the eye mixes weigh and welch
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. weigh (CVVCC) and welch (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between weigh and welch
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weigh is /weɪ/ while welch is /wɛlt͡ʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weigh is recorded at frequency rank #7,303, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪ/. welch is at rank #17,993, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɛlt͡ʃ/.
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 25296, this pair ranks #395,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of weigh vs welch
Shared letters: ehw. Private to "weigh": gi. Private to "welch": cl.
"weigh" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "welch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "weigh" for "welch" ever safe?
Frequency check: "weigh" vs "welch" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "weigh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "welch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weigh" and "welch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "welch vs wench". 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 #395,385 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.