Which to use
“went” is a verb and “wins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #300
- “went” frequency rank
- #2,056
- “wins” frequency rank
- 2356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | went | wins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of go | plural of win |
Where the eye mixes went and wins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: went is /wɛnt/ while wins is /wɪnz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
went is recorded at frequency rank #300, classified as averb, pronounced /wɛnt/. wins is at rank #2,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɪnz/.
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 2356, this pair ranks #525,187 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of went vs wins
Shared letters: nw. Private to "went": et. Private to "wins": is.
"went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wins" · 4 letters · shape CVCC