Which to use
“wither” is a verb and “withered” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,431
- “wither” frequency rank
- #32,250
- “withered” frequency rank
- 60681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wither | withered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water. | Shrivelled, shrunken or faded, especially due to lack of water. |
Where the eye mixes wither and withered
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. wither runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against withered's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses wither with withered
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wither is /ˈwɪðɚ/ while withered is /ˈwɪðɚd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wither” sits inside “withered”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wither is recorded at frequency rank #28,431, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwɪðɚ/. withered is at rank #32,250, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɪðɚd/.
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 60681, this pair ranks #98,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wither vs withered
Shared letters: ehirtw. Private to "wither": -. Private to "withered": d.
"wither" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "withered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wither" for "withered" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "wither" or "withered" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "wither" and "withered" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wither" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "withered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wither" and "withered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wilmer vs wither". 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 #98,745 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.