wealthvswraithWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“wealth” and “wraith” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,974
“wealth” frequency rank
#28,091
“wraith” frequency rank
31065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wealth wraith
Definition Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions. A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

Where the eye mixes wealth and wraith

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wealth
6 ch
wraith

Why the eye confuses wealth with wraith

A purely visual mix-up. wealth (/wɛlθ/) and wraith (/ɹeɪθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wealth is recorded at frequency rank #2,974, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɛlθ/. wraith is at rank #28,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪθ/.

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 31065, this pair ranks #349,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wealth vs wraith

Shared letters: ahtw. Private to "wealth": el. Private to "wraith": ir.

"wealth" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "wraith" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wealthewalth · waelth · wealht · weallth · wealthh · wealtth · weatlh · welath
  • wraithrwaith · warith · wraiht · wraithh · wraitth · wratih · wriath · wrraith

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wealth" for "wraith" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/wɛlθ/ versus /ɹeɪθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wealth" or "wraith"?
"wealth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,974 in our English list, against #28,091 for "wraith". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wealth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wraith" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #349,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wealth" and "wraith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waite vs wraith". 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 #349,299 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list