Which to use
“whoosh” and “whos” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,647
- “whoosh” frequency rank
- #27,029
- “whos” frequency rank
- 66676
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whoosh | whos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A breathy sound like that of an object passing at high speed. | plural of who; often used along with whats, whys, hows, etc. |
Where the eye mixes whoosh and whos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. whoosh runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against whos's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between whoosh and whos
A purely visual mix-up. whoosh (/ʍʊʃ/) and whos (/huːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whoosh is recorded at frequency rank #39,647, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʍʊʃ/. 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 66676, this pair ranks #66,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of whoosh vs whos
Shared letters: hosw. Private to "whoosh": -. Private to "whos": -.
"whoosh" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "whos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "whoosh" for "whos" ever safe?
Frequency check: "whoosh" vs "whos" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "whoosh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "whos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "whoosh" and "whos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whoo vs whoosh". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #66,887 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.