wichvswinceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“wich” and “wince” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,688
“wich” frequency rank
#46,866
“wince” frequency rank
85554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wich wince
Definition Alternative spelling of wych (“brine spring or well”). A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wich and wince apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
wich
5 ch
wince

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

wich and wince are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wich is recorded at frequency rank #38,688, classified as anoun. wince is at rank #46,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɪns/.

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 85554, this pair ranks #10,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wich vs wince

Shared letters: ciw. Private to "wich": h. Private to "wince": en.

"wich" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wince" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wichiwch · wcih · wicch · wichh · wihc · wwich
  • winceiwnce · wicne · wincce · winec · winnce · wnice · wwince

Frequency comparison

wich#38,688
wince#46,866

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wich" and "wince" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "wich" or "wince"?
"wich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,688 in our English list, against #46,866 for "wince". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wich vs wince

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wich” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list