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PlainSpell

wet

/wɛt/adjective, noun, verb

wet is spelled W-E-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,785th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “wet vs whet” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, wet means “Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in wet?

Letters3: W-E-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing35 times per million words; the 2,785th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is wet?

Wet appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,785th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce wet?

  • US /wɛt/
  • Australia /wet/
  • Australia [wet] ~ [we̞t]

Wet has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-wet.wav, En-us-wet.ogg, En-au-wet.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with wet

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

wet vs whet50 G

Sounds like: whet (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: weet.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with wet?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wet from its last stressed vowel (/ɛt/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tew, ewt.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of wet

  • wetter comparative
  • wettest superlative
  • wets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • wetting participle, present
  • wetted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does wet mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water.

    Water is wet.

  2. 2

    Of an object, etc.: covered or impregnated with liquid, usually (but not always) water.

    I went out in the rain and now my clothes are all wet.

  3. 3

    Of a burrito, sandwich, or other food: covered in a sauce.

    A chimichanga (MWCD: 1982) is a burrito that is deep-fried, rather than baked, and is served in the fashion of a wet burrito.

  4. 4

    Of calligraphy and fountain pens: depositing a large amount of ink from the nib or the feed.

    This pen’s a wet writer, so it’ll feather on this cheap paper.

  5. 5

    Of a sound recording: having had audio effects applied.

  6. 6

    Of weather or a time period: rainy.

    It’s going to be wet tomorrow.

  7. 7

    Using afterburners or water injection for increased engine thrust.

    This fighter jet's engine is rated for a maximum wet thrust of 450 kilonewtons, more than twice its max dry thrust, but the afterburner eats up a huge amount of fuel.

  8. 8

    slangOf a person: inexperienced in a profession or task; having the characteristics of a rookie.

    That guy’s wet; after all, he just started yesterday.

noun

  1. 1

    Liquid or moisture.

  2. 2

    Rainy weather.

    Don't go out in the wet.

  3. 3

    AustraliaRainy season. (often capitalized)

  4. 4

    UKderogatoryA moderate Conservative; especially, one who opposed the hard-line policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

  5. 5

    colloquialAn alcoholic drink.

  6. 6

    UScolloquialOne who supports the consumption of alcohol and thus opposes Prohibition.

    The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half.

  7. 7

    A tyre for use in wet weather.

  8. 8

    colloquialderogatoryA weak or sentimental person; a wimp or softie.

verb

  1. 1

    To cover or impregnate with liquid.

  2. 2

    To make or become wet.

  3. 3

    To make (oneself, clothing, a bed, etc.) wet by accidental urination.

    Johnny wets the bed several times a week.

  4. 4

    To form an intermetallic bond between a solder and a metal substrate.

  5. 5

    informalTo celebrate by drinking alcohol.

    to wet the baby’s head

  6. 6

    USslangTo kill or seriously injure.

phrase

as WET
  1. 1

    Acronym of write everything twice, a humorous backronym coined to serve as the antonym of DRY, punning on the opposition of wet and dry.

adjective

as WET
  1. 1

    Of code, having the quality of adhering to the principle of WET; containing much repetition.

Usage

Wiktionary also records wet as a common misspelling of another word in some uses; the senses above are its own.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Wet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germannass (made of liquid or moisture), feucht (of an object: covered with or impregnated with…), befeuchten, durchnässen, nass machen (cover or impregnate with liquid), nässen (urinate accidentally in or on)
Portugueseúmido (made of liquid or moisture), molhado (of an object: covered with or impregnated with…), molhar (cover or impregnate with liquid), chuvoso (of weather or a time period: rainy – see also…), molhada ((slang) sexually aroused and thus having a…), umedecer (become wet)
Spanishhúmedo (made of liquid or moisture), mojado (of an object: covered with or impregnated with…), mojar (cover or impregnate with liquid), mearse (urinate accidentally in or on), húmeda, mojada ((slang) sexually aroused and thus having a…)
Frenchmouillé (of an object: covered with or impregnated with…), mouiller (cover or impregnate with liquid), se mouiller (become wet)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does wet come from?

From Middle English wet (“wet, moistened”), wett, wette, past participle of Middle English weten (“to wet”), from Old English wǣtan (“to wet, moisten, water”), from Proto-West Germanic *wātijan, from Proto-Germanic *wētijaną (“to wet, make wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water, wet”) (also the source of water).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after wet