Which to use
“width” is a noun and “witty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,977
- “width” frequency rank
- #13,843
- “witty” frequency rank
- 20820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | width | witty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The state of being wide. | Clever; amusingly ingenious. |
Where the eye mixes width and witty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: width vs witty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: width is /ˈwɪtθ/ while witty is /ˈwɪti/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
width is recorded at frequency rank #6,977, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪtθ/. witty is at rank #13,843, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɪti/.
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 20820, this pair ranks #428,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of width vs witty
Shared letters: itw. Private to "width": dh. Private to "witty": y.
"width" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "witty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "width" and "witty" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "width" or "witty"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "width" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "witty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "width" and "witty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "width vs Wyeth". 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 #428,434 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.