Which to use
“Wilkes” is a name and “winked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,544
- “Wilkes” frequency rank
- #38,245
- “winked” frequency rank
- 58789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Wilkes | winked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname originating as a patronymic. | simple past and past participle of wink |
Where the eye mixes Wilkes and winked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Wilkes and winked follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Wilkes and winked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wilkes is /wɪlkiːs/ while winked is /wɪŋkt/. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Wilkes is recorded at frequency rank #20,544, classified as aname, pronounced /wɪlkiːs/. winked is at rank #38,245, tagged as averb, pronounced /wɪŋkt/.
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 58789, this pair ranks #110,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Wilkes vs winked
Shared letters: eikw. Private to "Wilkes": ls. Private to "winked": dn.
"Wilkes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "winked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Wilkes" and "winked" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Wilkes" vs "winked" - which ranks higher?
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 "Wilkes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "winked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,296 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Wilkes" and "winked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whined vs winked". 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 #110,296 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.