Which to use
“wedge” is a noun and “weigh” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,715
- “wedge” frequency rank
- #7,303
- “weigh” frequency rank
- 20018
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wedge | weigh |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | To determine the weight of an object. |
Where the eye mixes wedge and weigh
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wedge (CVCCV) and weigh (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses wedge with weigh
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wedge is /wɛd͡ʒ/ while weigh is /weɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wedge is recorded at frequency rank #12,715, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɛd͡ʒ/. weigh is at rank #7,303, tagged as averb, pronounced /weɪ/.
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 20018, this pair ranks #434,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wedge vs weigh
Shared letters: egw. Private to "wedge": d. Private to "weigh": hi.
"wedge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "weigh" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wedge" for "weigh" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "wedge" or "weigh" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wedge" and "weigh" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wedge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weigh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,104 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wedge" and "weigh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weigh vs wench". 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 #434,104 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.