Which to use
“washes” is a noun and “washy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,737
- “washes” frequency rank
- #46,852
- “washy” frequency rank
- 66589
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | washes | washy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wash | Watery; damp; soft. |
Letter map: washes vs washy
Shared letters muted; letters that set washes and washy apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. washes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against washy's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for washes / washy
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: washes is anoun and washyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
washes is recorded at frequency rank #19,737, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɒʃ.ɪz/. washy is at rank #46,852, tagged as anadj.
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 66589, this pair ranks #67,294 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of washes vs washy
Shared letters: ahsw. Private to "washes": e. Private to "washy": y.
"washes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "washy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "washes" and "washy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "washes" or "washy"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "washes" and "washy". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "washes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "washy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,294 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "washes" and "washy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "washy vs waxy". 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 #67,294 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.