Which to use
“who's” is a contraction and “whos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,512
- “who's” frequency rank
- #27,029
- “whos” frequency rank
- 28541
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | who's | whos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Who is. | plural of who; often used along with whats, whys, hows, etc. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set who's and whos apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: who's and whos carry the same recorded pronunciation, /huːz/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is acontraction, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28541, 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/. whos is at rank #27,029, tagged as anoun, 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 28541, this pair ranks #370,266 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of who's vs whos
Shared letters: hosw. Private to "who's": -. Private to "whos": -.
"who's" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "whos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- whos ← hwos · whhos · whoss · whso · wohs · wwhos
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "who's" and "whos" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "who's" or "whos"?
Remembering who's vs whos
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “who's”; for a noun, it's “whos”.
- 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