Which to use
“went” is a verb and “what” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,632
- “went” frequency rank
- #4,752
- “what” frequency rank
- 53384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | went | what |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs go | was? |
Where the eye mixes went and what
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between went and what
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: went is [went] while what is [wɒt]. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
went is recorded at frequency rank #48,632, classified as averb, pronounced [went]. what is at rank #4,752, tagged as apron, pronounced [wɒt].
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 53384, this pair ranks #1,060,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of went vs what
Shared letters: tw. Private to "went": en. Private to "what": ah.
"went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "went" and "what" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "went" vs "what" - which ranks higher?
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 "went" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "what" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,060,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "went" and "what" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wants vs went". 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 #1,060,130 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.