Which to use
“wed” is a verb and “wedge” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,997
- “wed” frequency rank
- #12,715
- “wedge” frequency rank
- 24712
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wed | wedge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony. | One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering. |
Where the eye mixes wed and wedge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wed runs 3 letters (CVC) against wedge's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: wed vs wedge
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wed is /ˈwɛd/ while wedge is /wɛd͡ʒ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wed” sits inside “wedge”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wed is recorded at frequency rank #11,997, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwɛd/. wedge is at rank #12,715, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɛd͡ʒ/.
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 24712, this pair ranks #399,923 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wed vs wedge
Shared letters: dew. Private to "wed": -. Private to "wedge": g.
"wed" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wedge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- wedge ← ewdge · wdege · weddge · wedeg · wedgge · wegde · wwedge
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wed" for "wedge" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wed" or "wedge"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wedge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,923 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wed" and "wedge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wed vs WYO". 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 #399,923 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.