Which to use
“wraith” and “wrath” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,091
- “wraith” frequency rank
- #11,328
- “wrath” frequency rank
- 39419
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wraith | wrath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death. | Great anger; (countable) an instance of this. |
Where the eye mixes wraith and wrath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wraith runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against wrath's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wraith and wrath
A purely visual mix-up. wraith (/ɹeɪθ/) and wrath (/ɹɒθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wraith is recorded at frequency rank #28,091, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪθ/. wrath is at rank #11,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɒθ/.
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 39419, this pair ranks #276,890 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wraith vs wrath
Shared letters: ahrtw. Private to "wraith": i. Private to "wrath": -.
"wraith" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "wrath" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wraith" and "wrath" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wraith" vs "wrath" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wraith" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wrath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,890 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wraith" and "wrath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wrath vs Wyeth". 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 #276,890 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.