Which to use
“wire” and “wives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,460
- “wire” frequency rank
- #6,318
- “wives” frequency rank
- 9778
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wire | wives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die. | plural of wife |
Where the eye mixes wire and wives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wire and wives
A purely visual mix-up. wire (/waɪə(ɹ)/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wire is recorded at frequency rank #3,460, classified as anoun, pronounced /waɪə(ɹ)/. 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 9778, this pair ranks #495,645 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wire vs wives
Shared letters: eiw. Private to "wire": r. Private to "wives": sv.
"wire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wire" and "wives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wire" vs "wives" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "wire" and "wives" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wire" 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 #495,645 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wire" 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 #495,645 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.