Which to use
“what'd” and “what're” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,652
- “what'd” frequency rank
- #34,348
- “what're” frequency rank
- 65000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what'd | what're |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contraction of what + did. | Contraction of what + are. |
Where the eye mixes what'd and what're
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. what'd runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against what're's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: what'd vs what're
A purely visual mix-up. what'd (/wʌd/) and what're ([ˈwʌɾɚ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what'd is recorded at frequency rank #30,652, classified as acontraction, pronounced /wʌd/. what're is at rank #34,348, tagged as acontraction, pronounced [ˈwʌɾɚ].
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 65000, this pair ranks #74,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of what'd vs what're
Shared letters: ahtw. Private to "what'd": d. Private to "what're": er.
"what'd" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "what're" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "what'd" and "what're" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "what'd" or "what're" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "what'd" and "what're" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "what'd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "what're" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what'd" and "what're" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "what're vs who're". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #74,903 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.