Which to use
“wait” is a verb and “wraith” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #451
- “wait” frequency rank
- #28,091
- “wraith” frequency rank
- 28542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wait | wraith |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness. | A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death. |
Where the eye mixes wait and wraith
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wait and wraith
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wait is /weɪt/ while wraith is /ɹeɪθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wait is recorded at frequency rank #451, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪt/. wraith is at rank #28,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪθ/.
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 28542, this pair ranks #370,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wait vs wraith
Shared letters: aitw. Private to "wait": -. Private to "wraith": hr.
"wait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "wraith" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wait" and "wraith" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "wait" or "wraith" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wraith" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wait" and "wraith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waite vs wraith". 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 #370,258 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.