Which to use
“ward” is a noun and “wed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,854
- “ward” frequency rank
- #11,997
- “wed” frequency rank
- 15851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ward | wed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A warden; a guard; a guardian or watchman. | To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony. |
Where the eye mixes ward and wed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ward is /wɔːd/ while wed is /ˈwɛd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ward is recorded at frequency rank #3,854, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɔːd/. wed is at rank #11,997, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɛd/.
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 15851, this pair ranks #461,386 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ward vs wed
Shared letters: dw. Private to "ward": ar. Private to "wed": e.
"ward" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wed" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ward ← awrd · wadr · wardd · warrd · wrad · wward