Which to use
“whos” and “wok” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,029
- “whos” frequency rank
- #37,773
- “wok” frequency rank
- 64802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whos | wok |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of who; often used along with whats, whys, hows, etc. | A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking. |
Where the eye mixes whos and wok
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. whos runs 4 letters (CCVC) against wok's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between whos and wok
A purely visual mix-up. whos (/huːz/) and wok (/wɒk/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whos is recorded at frequency rank #27,029, classified as anoun, pronounced /huːz/. wok is at rank #37,773, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɒk/.
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 64802, this pair ranks #75,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of whos vs wok
Shared letters: ow. Private to "whos": hs. Private to "wok": k.
"whos" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- whos ← hwos · whhos · whoss · whso · wohs · wwhos
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "whos" and "wok" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "whos" vs "wok" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "whos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wok" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "whos" and "wok" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wok vs wove". 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 #75,903 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.