Which to use
“waits” and “whit” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,637
- “waits” frequency rank
- #24,357
- “whit” frequency rank
- 35994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waits | whit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wait | The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota. |
Where the eye mixes waits and whit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. waits runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against whit's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: waits vs whit
A purely visual mix-up. waits (/weɪts/) and whit (/wɪt/) 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 35994, 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/. whit is at rank #24,357, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɪt/.
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 35994, this pair ranks #307,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of waits vs whit
Shared letters: itw. Private to "waits": as. Private to "whit": h.
"waits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "whit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "waits" for "whit" ever safe?
Frequency check: "waits" vs "whit" - which ranks higher?
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 "waits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "whit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waits" and "whit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whit vs wim". 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 #307,139 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.