Which to use
“wade” and “weighed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,409
- “wade” frequency rank
- #9,554
- “weighed” frequency rank
- 16963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wade | weighed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To walk through water or something that impedes progress. | simple past and past participle of weigh |
Same sound, different letters: wade vs weighed
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - wade / weighed
This is the hard kind. wade and weighed are pronounced identically (/weɪd/) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wade is recorded at frequency rank #7,409, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪd/. weighed is at rank #9,554, tagged as averb, pronounced /weɪd/.
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 16963, this pair ranks #454,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wade vs weighed
Shared letters: dew. Private to "wade": a. Private to "weighed": ghi.
"wade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "weighed" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wade" and "weighed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "wade" vs "weighed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "wade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weighed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #454,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wade" and "weighed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wade vs wove". 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 #454,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.