when
/ˈwɛn/adverb, conjunction, pronoun, noun, interjection
when is spelled W-H-E-N. The wrong spelling people search most is whn: about 410 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 26 of all searches for the word. When is an adverb meaning “At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect…”.
How many letters and syllables are in when?
| Letters | 4: W-H-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 2,344 times per million words; the 49th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, whn, about 410 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 do you spell when?
When is spelled W-H-E-N. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 22 of the searches for when in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is when?
When appears 2,344 times per million words in written English, the 49th 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 when?
- /ˈwɛn/
- [ˈwɛn]
- /ˈwɪn/
When has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-when.ogg, En-uk-when.ogg, En-ne-when.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with when
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: wen (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: wen.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with when?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as when.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hewn.
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 when
- wen
- whens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does when mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
When will they arrive?
- 2
Used after a noun or noun phrase in isolation to express impatience with an anticipated future event.
The site's all bugged. Fix when?
- 3
At an earlier time and under different, usually less favorable, circumstances.
He's mister high and mighty now, but I remember him when.
- 4
At which, on which, during which: often omitted or replaced with that.
That was the day when the Twin Towers fell.
- 5
The time at, on or during which.
I recall when they were called the Greys.
- 6
informalA circumstance or situation in which.
Love is when you can't get enough of someone.
conjunction
- 1
At (or as soon as) that time that; at the (or any and every) time that; if.
Pavlov's dogs salivate when [i.e. at any and every time that] they hear a bell.
- 2
During the time that; at the time of the action of the following clause or participle phrase.
They dream when [i.e. during the time that] they sleep.
- 3
At what time; at which time.
I am here till Friday, when [i.e. at which time] I leave for Senegal.
- 4
Since; given the fact that; considering that.
I don't see the point of putting up Christmas decorations when I am the only person who is going to see them.
- 5
Whereas; although; at the same time as; in spite of the fact that.
You're picking at your scabs when you should be letting them heal.
pronoun
- 1
What time; which time.
Since when do I need your permission?
noun
- 1
The time at which something happens.
A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.
interjection
- 1
That's enough: a command asking someone to stop adding something, especially an ingredient or portion of food or drink; used in, or as if in, literal response to ‘Say when’.
- 2
obsoleteExpressing impatience.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
When in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quand , dès que , lorsque |
| German | wann , sobald , als, wenn, wo , Wann |
| Portuguese | quando , assim que |
| Spanish | cuándo , cuando, al, en que , el cuando |
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 when come from?
From Middle English when(ne), whan(ne), from Old English hwonne, from Proto-West Germanic *hwannē, from Proto-West Germanic *hwan, from Proto-Germanic *hwan (“at what time, when”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís (interrogative base).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).