Which to use
“wether” is a noun and “wither” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,242
- “wether” frequency rank
- #28,431
- “wither” frequency rank
- 66673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wether | wither |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A castrated goat. | To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water. |
Where the eye mixes wether and wither
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wether and wither follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses wether with wither
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wether is /ˈwɛðɚ/ while wither is /ˈwɪðɚ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “wether” becomes i in “wither”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wether is recorded at frequency rank #38,242, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɛðɚ/. wither is at rank #28,431, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɪðɚ/.
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 66673, this pair ranks #66,902 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wether vs wither
Shared letters: ehrtw. Private to "wether": -. Private to "wither": i.
"wether" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wither" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wether" and "wither" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "wether" or "wither" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wether" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wither" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,902 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wether" and "wither" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wether vs Wexler". 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 #66,902 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.