Who or whom?
who is a pronoun meaning “What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of…”; whom is a pronoun meaning “As the object of a verb”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) who is about 31 times as common as whom.
What is the difference between who and whom?
| who | whom | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | pronoun, noun, determiner | pronoun |
| Meaning | What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question With antecedent as subject A person under discussion; a question of which person | As the object of a verb As the object of a preposition |
| Example | You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question) | Whom did you ask? |
| Forms | whom, whose | none |
| Pronunciation | /huː/ /hʉw/ /hu/ | /huːm/ /hʉwm/ /hum/ |
| In writing | 2,188 times per million words | 71 times per million words |
Sources: who and whom in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of who and whom
who
- 1
What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question
You're getting married‽ Who to? (direct question)
- 2
A person under discussion; a question of which person
- 3
whose
Who phone just rang?
- 4
Honorific alternative letter-case form of who, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context
- 5
With antecedent as subject
That's the man who works at the newsagent. (defining)
- 6
With antecedent as object: whom
That's the man who I saw earlier
- 7
Whoever, he who, they who
Who dares wins
- 8
informalAlso used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams
Who are the Miami Heat?
whom
- 1
As the object of a verb
Whom did you ask?
- 2
Honorific alternative letter-case form of whom, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context
- 3
As the object of a preposition
To whom are you referring?
- 4
Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people
That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
- 5
The person(s) whom; whomever
To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne
- 6
informalAlso used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams
Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, who or whom?
who appears 2,188 times per million words; whom 71 times per million words.
who 2,188 times per million wordswhom 71 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).