Which to use
“widen” is a verb and “women” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,113
- “widen” frequency rank
- #245
- “women” frequency rank
- 21358
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | widen | women |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To become wide or wider. | plural of woman |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set widen and women apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: widen is /ˈwaɪdn̩/ while women is /ˈwɪm.ɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
widen is recorded at frequency rank #21,113, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwaɪdn̩/. women is at rank #245, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪm.ɪn/.
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 21358, this pair ranks #424,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of widen vs women
Shared letters: enw. Private to "widen": di. Private to "women": mo.
"widen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "women" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "widen" and "women" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "widen" or "women"?
Remembering widen vs women
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “widen”; for a noun, it's “women”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “widen” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable