Which to use
“who's” is a contraction and “whoops” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,512
- “who's” frequency rank
- #16,621
- “whoops” frequency rank
- 18133
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | who's | whoops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Who is. | Oops. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set who's and whoops 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's is /huːz/ while whoops is /wʊps/. 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 intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
who's is recorded at frequency rank #1,512, classified as acontraction, pronounced /huːz/. whoops is at rank #16,621, tagged as anintj, pronounced /wʊps/.
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 18133, this pair ranks #446,901 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of who's vs whoops
Shared letters: hosw. Private to "who's": -. Private to "whoops": p.
"who's" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "whoops" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- whoops ← hwoops · whhoops · whoopps · whoopss · whoosp · whopos · whops · wohops
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "who's" and "whoops" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "who's" or "whoops"?
Remembering who's vs whoops
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “who's”; for an intj, it's “whoops”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “who's” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable