Which to use
“whatever” is a noun and “whatsoever” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #759
- “whatever” frequency rank
- #7,304
- “whatsoever” frequency rank
- 8063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whatever | whatsoever |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten. | Whatever. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set whatever and whatsoever apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
whatever and whatsoever form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whatever is recorded at frequency rank #759, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʍɒtˈɛv.ə/. whatsoever is at rank #7,304, tagged as adet, pronounced /ˌwɒtsəʊˈɛvə(ɹ)/.
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 8063, this pair ranks #504,284 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "whatever" and "whatsoever" be used interchangeably?
Remembering whatever vs whatsoever
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “whatever”; for a determiner, it's “whatsoever”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “whatever” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable