waits vs wis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“waits” is a noun and “wis” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,637
“waits” frequency rank: #21,426
“wis” frequency rank: 33063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	waits	wis
Definition	plural of wait	Certainly, surely.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set waits and wis apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

waits

3 ch

wis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: waits is /weɪts/ while wis is /waɪs/. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33063, 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/. wis is at rank #21,426, tagged as anadv, pronounced /waɪs/.

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 33063, this pair ranks #332,548 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of waits vs wis

Shared letters: isw. Private to "waits": at. Private to "wis": -.

"waits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "wis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

waits ← awits · waitss · waitts · watis · wiats · wwaits

Frequency comparison

waits#11,637

wis#21,426

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "waits" and "wis" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "waits" is a noun and "wis" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "waits" or "wis"?

"waits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,637 in our English list, against #21,426 for "wis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering waits vs wis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “waits”; for an adverb, it's “wis”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “waits” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable