Which to use
“wildest” is an adjective and “Wilkes” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,424
- “wildest” frequency rank
- #20,544
- “Wilkes” frequency rank
- 41968
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wildest | Wilkes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | superlative form of wild: most wild | A surname originating as a patronymic. |
Letter map: wildest vs Wilkes
Shared letters muted; letters that set wildest and Wilkes apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. wildest runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against Wilkes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - wildest and Wilkes
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wildest is anadjective and Wilkesaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wildest is recorded at frequency rank #21,424, classified as anadj. Wilkes is at rank #20,544, tagged as aname, pronounced /wɪlkiːs/.
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 41968, this pair ranks #253,518 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wildest vs Wilkes
Shared letters: eilsw. Private to "wildest": dt. Private to "Wilkes": k.
"wildest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "Wilkes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wildest" for "Wilkes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wildest" or "Wilkes"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "wildest" and "Wilkes".
- Full dictionary entry for "wildest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Wilkes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,518 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wildest" and "Wilkes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wilkes vs Willey". 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 #253,518 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.