Which to use
“wilds” is a noun and “wily” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,088
- “wilds” frequency rank
- #37,287
- “wily” frequency rank
- 70375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wilds | wily |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wild | Sly, cunning, full of tricks. |
Letter map: wilds vs wily
Shared letters muted; letters that set wilds and wily apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. wilds runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against wily's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: wilds vs wily
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wilds is anoun and wilyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wilds is recorded at frequency rank #33,088, classified as anoun. wily is at rank #37,287, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwaɪ.li/.
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 70375, this pair ranks #50,835 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wilds vs wily
Shared letters: ilw. Private to "wilds": ds. Private to "wily": y.
"wilds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "wily" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wilds" and "wily" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "wilds" or "wily" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "wilds" and "wily".
- Full dictionary entry for "wilds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wily" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,835 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wilds" and "wily" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Willey vs wily". 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 #50,835 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.