wincevswinderWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“wince” and “winder” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,866
“wince” frequency rank
#45,173
“winder” frequency rank
92039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wince winder
Definition A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away. A winding plant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wince and winder apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wince
6 ch
winder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wince (/wɪns/) and winder (/ˈwaɪndɚ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wince is recorded at frequency rank #46,866, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɪns/. winder is at rank #45,173, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwaɪndɚ/.

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 92039, this pair ranks #2,909 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wince vs winder

Shared letters: einw. Private to "wince": c. Private to "winder": dr.

"wince" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "winder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • winceiwnce · wicne · wincce · winec · winnce · wnice · wwince
  • winderiwnder · widner · windder · winderr · windre · winedr · winnder · wnider

Frequency comparison

wince#46,866
winder#45,173

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wince" and "winder" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/wɪns/ versus /ˈwaɪndɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wince" or "winder"?
"winder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,173 in our English list, against #46,866 for "wince". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wince vs winder

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wince” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list