weldervswilderWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: welder is a noun, wilder is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“welder” is a noun and “wilder” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,081
“welder” frequency rank
#16,830
“wilder” frequency rank
49911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature welder wilder
Definition One who welds, that is, unites pieces of steel, aluminum, or other metals by welding. comparative form of wild: more wild

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set welder and wilder apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
welder
6 ch
wilder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welder is /ˈwɛldə(ɹ)/ while wilder is /ˈwaɪldə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “welder” becomes i in “wilder”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

welder is recorded at frequency rank #33,081, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɛldə(ɹ)/. wilder is at rank #16,830, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwaɪldə(ɹ)/.

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 49911, this pair ranks #179,137 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of welder vs wilder

Shared letters: delrw. Private to "welder": -. Private to "wilder": i.

"welder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wilder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • welderewlder · wedler · weldder · welderr · weldre · weledr · wellder · wleder
  • wilderiwlder · widler · wildder · wilderr · wildre · wiledr · willder · wlider

Frequency comparison

welder#33,081
wilder#16,830

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "welder" and "wilder" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "welder" is a noun and "wilder" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "welder" or "wilder"?
"wilder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,830 in our English list, against #33,081 for "welder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering welder vs wilder

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “welder”; for an adjective, it's “wilder”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “welder” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list