Which to use
“who” is a pronoun and “who'd” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #53
- “who” frequency rank
- #12,531
- “who'd” frequency rank
- 12584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | who | who'd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question. | Who had. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set who and who'd apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: who is apronoun and who'dacontraction. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “who” sits inside “who'd”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
who is recorded at frequency rank #53, classified as apron, pronounced /huː/. who'd is at rank #12,531, tagged as acontraction.
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 12584, this pair ranks #480,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of who vs who'd
Shared letters: how. Private to "who": -. Private to "who'd": d.
"who" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "who'd" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "who" and "who'd" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "who" or "who'd"?
Remembering who vs who'd
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “who”; for a contraction, it's “who'd”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “who” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable