Which to use
“what” is a determiner and “wrap” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46
- “what” frequency rank
- #5,179
- “wrap” frequency rank
- 5225
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what | wrap |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. | To enclose (an object) completely in any flexible, thin material such as fabric or paper. |
Where the eye mixes what and wrap
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between what and wrap
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: what is /wɒt/ while wrap is /ɹæp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what is recorded at frequency rank #46, classified as adet, pronounced /wɒt/. wrap is at rank #5,179, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹæp/.
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 5225, this pair ranks #516,124 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of what vs wrap
Shared letters: aw. Private to "what": ht. Private to "wrap": pr.
"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "wrap" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "what" and "wrap" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "what" vs "wrap" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "what" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wrap" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,124 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what" and "wrap" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wac vs wrap". 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 #516,124 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.