Which to use
“what” is a pronoun and “WLAN” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,752
- “what” frequency rank
- #4,087
- “WLAN” frequency rank
- 8839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what | WLAN |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | was? | drahtloses lokales Computernetzwerk |
Where the eye mixes what and WLAN
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: what vs WLAN
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: what is [wɒt] while WLAN is [ˈveːlaːn]. 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 (pronoun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what is recorded at frequency rank #4,752, classified as apron, pronounced [wɒt]. WLAN is at rank #4,087, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ˈveːlaːn].
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 8839, this pair ranks #1,982,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of what vs WLAN
Shared letters: aw. Private to "what": ht. Private to "WLAN": ln.
"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "WLAN" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "what" and "WLAN" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "what" or "WLAN"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "what" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "WLAN" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,982,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what" and "WLAN" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "WLAN vs Wotan". 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 #1,982,593 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.