Which to use
“what's” and “when's” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #645
- “what's” frequency rank
- #22,550
- “when's” frequency rank
- 23195
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what's | when's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | What is. | Contraction of when + is. |
Where the eye mixes what's and when's
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. what's and when's follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: what's vs when's
A purely visual mix-up. what's (/wɒts/) and when's (/wɛnz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what's is recorded at frequency rank #645, classified as acontraction, pronounced /wɒts/. when's is at rank #22,550, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /wɛnz/.
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 23195, this pair ranks #411,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of what's vs when's
Shared letters: hsw. Private to "what's": at. Private to "when's": en.
"what's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "when's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "what's" and "when's" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "what's" or "when's" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "what's" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "when's" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what's" and "when's" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "when's vs wheres". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #411,075 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.