Which to use
“who're” is a contraction and “whose” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,747
- “who're” frequency rank
- #919
- “whose” frequency rank
- 35666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | who're | whose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Who are. | Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set who're and whose apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: who're is [hʊɚ] while whose is /huːz/. 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 (contraction vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
who're is recorded at frequency rank #34,747, classified as acontraction, pronounced [hʊɚ]. whose is at rank #919, tagged as adet, pronounced /huːz/.
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 35666, this pair ranks #310,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of who're vs whose
Shared letters: ehow. Private to "who're": r. Private to "whose": s.
"who're" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "whose" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- whose ← hwose · whhose · whoes · whosse · whsoe · wohse · wwhose
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "who're" and "whose" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "who're" or "whose"?
Remembering who're vs whose
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “who're”; for a determiner, it's “whose”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “who're” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable