Which to use
“what” is a determiner and “Wuhan” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46
- “what” frequency rank
- #38,250
- “Wuhan” frequency rank
- 38296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what | Wuhan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Which, especially which of an open-ended set of possibilities. | A subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Hubei, China. |
Where the eye mixes what and Wuhan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. what runs 4 letters (CCVC) against Wuhan's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: what vs Wuhan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: what is /wɒt/ while Wuhan is /ˈwuːˈhɑːn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what is recorded at frequency rank #46, classified as adet, pronounced /wɒt/. Wuhan is at rank #38,250, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈwuːˈhɑːn/.
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 38296, this pair ranks #287,156 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of what vs Wuhan
Shared letters: ahw. Private to "what": t. Private to "Wuhan": nu.
"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "Wuhan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "what" for "Wuhan" ever safe?
Frequency check: "what" vs "Wuhan" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "what" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Wuhan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,156 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what" and "Wuhan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wean vs Wuhan". 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 #287,156 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.