Which to use
“wings” and “wives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,404
- “wings” frequency rank
- #6,318
- “wives” frequency rank
- 9722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wings | wives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wing | plural of wife |
Where the eye mixes wings and wives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses wings with wives
A purely visual mix-up. wings (/wɪŋz/) and wives (/waɪvz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wings is recorded at frequency rank #3,404, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɪŋz/. wives is at rank #6,318, tagged as anoun, pronounced /waɪvz/.
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 9722, this pair ranks #495,943 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wings vs wives
Shared letters: isw. Private to "wings": gn. Private to "wives": ev.
"wings" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "wives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wings" and "wives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "wings" or "wives"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wings" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #495,943 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wings" and "wives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wives vs wove". 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 #495,943 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.