whatvsWPAWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: what is a determiner, WPA is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

By · Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org ·

Which to use

“what” is a determiner and “WPA” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46
“what” frequency rank
#41,479
“WPA” frequency rank
41525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature what WPA
Definition Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. Initialism of Woomera Prohibited Area.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set what and WPA apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
what
3 ch
WPA

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: what is adeterminer and WPAaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

what is recorded at frequency rank #46, classified as adet, pronounced /wɒt/. WPA is at rank #41,479, tagged as aname.

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 41525, this pair ranks #257,565 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of what vs WPA

Shared letters: aw. Private to "what": ht. Private to "WPA": p.

"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "WPA" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • what ← hwat · waht · whatt · whhat · whta · wwhat

Frequency comparison

what#46
WPA#41,479

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "what" and "WPA" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "what" is a determiner and "WPA" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "what" or "WPA"?
"what" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46 in our English list, against #41,479 for "WPA". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering what vs WPA

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “what”; for a name, it's “WPA”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “what” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list