Which to use
“wide” and “windy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,177
- “wide” frequency rank
- #13,643
- “windy” frequency rank
- 14820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wide | windy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a large physical extent from side to side. | Accompanied by wind. |
Where the eye mixes wide and windy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses wide with windy
A purely visual mix-up. wide (/waɪd/) and windy (/ˈwɪn.di/) 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 14820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wide is recorded at frequency rank #1,177, classified as anadj, pronounced /waɪd/. windy is at rank #13,643, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɪn.di/.
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 14820, this pair ranks #467,742 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wide vs windy
Shared letters: diw. Private to "wide": e. Private to "windy": ny.
"wide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "windy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wide" for "windy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wide" vs "windy" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "windy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #467,742 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wide" and "windy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "windy vs wordy". 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 #467,742 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.