We're or were?
we're is a contraction meaning “Contraction of we + are”; were is a verb meaning “simple subjunctive of be”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) were is about 8.7 times as common as we're.
What is the difference between we're and were?
| we're | were | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | contraction | verb, noun, prefix |
| Meaning | Contraction of we + are | simple subjunctive of be Prefixed to animal names to indicate a human that shapeshifts into that animal |
| Example | none recorded | John, you were the only person to see him |
| Pronunciation | /wɪə/ /weː/ /wə/ | /wə(ɹ)/ /wɜː/ /wɛː/ |
| In writing | 251 times per million words | 2,188 times per million words |
Sources: we're and were in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of we're and were
we're
- 1
Contraction of we + are
were
- 1
simple subjunctive of be
I wish that it were Sunday
- 2
Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld”)
- 3
slangThe collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf
- 4
Prefixed to animal names to indicate a human that shapeshifts into that animal
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, we're or were?
we're appears 251 times per million words; were 2,188 times per million words.
we're 251 times per million wordswere 2,188 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search we're vs were?
“we're vs were” is searched about 1,900 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“were vs we're”, “we're or were”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.