Which to use
“wither” is a verb and “withers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,431
- “wither” frequency rank
- #29,892
- “withers” frequency rank
- 58323
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wither | withers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water. | The part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades; in many species the highest point of the body and the standard place to measure the animal's height. |
Where the eye mixes wither and withers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. wither runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against withers's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wither and withers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wither is /ˈwɪðɚ/ while withers is /ˈwɪð.ɚz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wither” sits inside “withers”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58323, 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/. withers is at rank #29,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪð.ɚz/.
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 58323, this pair ranks #113,342 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wither vs withers
Shared letters: ehirtw. Private to "wither": -. Private to "withers": s.
"wither" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "withers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wither" and "withers" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "wither" or "withers"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wither" and "withers" 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 "withers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,342 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wither" and "withers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Watters vs withers". 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 #113,342 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.