Which to use
“wonder” is a noun and “wounded” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,258
- “wonder” frequency rank
- #4,204
- “wounded” frequency rank
- 5462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wonder | wounded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sense of awe, astonishment and curiosity, inspired by unexpected events, novel experiences and inexplicable circumstances, sometimes accompanied by surprise, shock or reverence. | simple past and past participle of wound |
Where the eye mixes wonder and wounded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wonder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against wounded's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses wonder with wounded
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wonder is /ˈwʌndə/ while wounded is /ˈwuːndɪd/. 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 5462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wonder is recorded at frequency rank #1,258, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwʌndə/. wounded is at rank #4,204, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwuːndɪd/.
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 5462, this pair ranks #515,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wonder vs wounded
Shared letters: denow. Private to "wonder": r. Private to "wounded": u.
"wonder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wounded" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wonder" and "wounded" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wonder" vs "wounded" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wonder" and "wounded" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wonder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wounded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #515,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wonder" and "wounded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "winder vs wonder". 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 #515,239 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.