Which to use
“wives” is a noun and “wove” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,318
- “wives” frequency rank
- #49,728
- “wove” frequency rank
- 56046
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wives | wove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of wife | simple past of weave |
Where the eye mixes wives and wove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wives is /waɪvz/ while wove is /wəʊv/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wives is recorded at frequency rank #6,318, classified as anoun, pronounced /waɪvz/. wove is at rank #49,728, tagged as averb, pronounced /wəʊv/.
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 56046, this pair ranks #129,128 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wives vs wove
Shared letters: evw. Private to "wives": is. Private to "wove": o.
"wives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "wove" · 4 letters · shape CVCV