Which to use
“wind” is a noun and “wis” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,547
- “wind” frequency rank
- #21,426
- “wis” frequency rank
- 22973
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wind | wis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure. | Certainly, surely. |
Where the eye mixes wind and wis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wind vs wis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wind is /ˈwɪnd/ while wis is /waɪs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wind is recorded at frequency rank #1,547, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪnd/. wis is at rank #21,426, tagged as anadv, pronounced /waɪs/.
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 22973, this pair ranks #412,668 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wind vs wis
Shared letters: iw. Private to "wind": dn. Private to "wis": s.
"wind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wind ← iwnd · widn · windd · winnd · wnid · wwind
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wind" for "wis" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "wind" or "wis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "wind" and "wis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wind" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,668 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wind" and "wis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wis vs WYO". 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 #412,668 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.