# wildcard vs wildcat

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### wildcard
*noun · frequency rank #23,436*
A character that takes the place of any other character or string that is not known or specified.

### wildcat
*noun · IPA /ˈwaɪldˌkæt/ · frequency rank #27,030*
A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wildcard-vs-wildcat