Which to use
“waits” and “wart” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,637
- “waits” frequency rank
- #38,680
- “wart” frequency rank
- 50317
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waits | wart |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wait | A type of deformed growth occurring on the skin caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). |
Where the eye mixes waits and wart
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. waits runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against wart's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between waits and wart
A purely visual mix-up. waits (/weɪts/) and wart (/wɔːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waits is recorded at frequency rank #11,637, classified as anoun, pronounced /weɪts/. wart is at rank #38,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɔːt/.
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 50317, this pair ranks #175,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of waits vs wart
Shared letters: atw. Private to "waits": is. Private to "wart": r.
"waits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "wart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "waits" for "wart" ever safe?
Which is more common, "waits" or "wart"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "waits" and "wart" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "waits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wart" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waits" and "wart" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wart vs wawa". 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 #175,394 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.