Which to use
“won't” is a verb and “wont” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #462
- “won't” frequency rank
- #6,202
- “wont” frequency rank
- 6664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | won't | wont |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | will not (negative auxiliary); used to indicate a future non-occurring action. | One's habitual way of doing things; custom, habit, practice. |
Same sound, different letters: won't vs wont
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: won't and wont carry the same recorded pronunciation, /wəʊnt/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
won't is recorded at frequency rank #462, classified as averb, pronounced /wəʊnt/. wont is at rank #6,202, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wəʊnt/.
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 6664, this pair ranks #510,509 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of won't vs wont
Shared letters: notw. Private to "won't": -. Private to "wont": -.
"won't" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wont ← ownt · wnot · wonnt · wontt · wotn · wwont