Which to use
“what'd” and “who'd” 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
- #12,531
- “who'd” frequency rank
- 43183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what'd | who'd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contraction of what + did. | Who had. |
Letter map: what'd vs who'd
Shared letters muted; letters that set what'd and who'd apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. what'd runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against who'd's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on what'd vs who'd
what'd and who'd are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43183, 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/. who'd is at rank #12,531, tagged as acontraction.
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 43183, this pair ranks #242,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of what'd vs who'd
Shared letters: dhw. Private to "what'd": at. Private to "who'd": o.
"what'd" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "who'd" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "what'd" and "who'd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "what'd" vs "who'd" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "what'd" vs "who'd" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "what'd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "who'd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what'd" and "who'd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "what'd vs what're". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #242,458 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.