Which to use
“wife” and “wire” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #601
- “wife” frequency rank
- #3,460
- “wire” frequency rank
- 4061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wife | wire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse. | Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die. |
Where the eye mixes wife and wire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. wife (/wæf/) and wire (/waɪə(ɹ)/) 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 a single letter - f in “wife” becomes r in “wire”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wife is recorded at frequency rank #601, classified as anoun, pronounced /wæf/. wire is at rank #3,460, tagged as anoun, pronounced /waɪə(ɹ)/.
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 4061, this pair ranks #520,114 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wife vs wire
Shared letters: eiw. Private to "wife": f. Private to "wire": r.
"wife" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV