wickervswiperWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,146
“wicker” frequency rank
#36,834
“wiper” frequency rank
65980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wicker wiper
Definition A flexible branch or twig of a plant such as willow, used in weaving baskets and furniture. Someone who wipes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wicker and wiper apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
wicker
5 ch
wiper

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wicker (/ˈwɪkə(ɹ)/) and wiper (/ˈwaɪpɚ/) 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 65980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wicker is recorded at frequency rank #29,146, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪkə(ɹ)/. wiper is at rank #36,834, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwaɪpɚ/.

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 65980, this pair ranks #70,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wicker vs wiper

Shared letters: eirw. Private to "wicker": ck. Private to "wiper": p.

"wicker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wiper" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wickeriwcker · wciker · wiccker · wicekr · wickerr · wickker · wickre · wikcer
  • wiperiwper · wiepr · wiperr · wipper · wipre · wpier · wwiper

Frequency comparison

wicker#29,146
wiper#36,834

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wicker" and "wiper" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈwɪkə(ɹ)/ versus /ˈwaɪpɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wicker" or "wiper"?
"wicker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,146 in our English list, against #36,834 for "wiper". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wicker vs wiper

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 “wicker” 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