whose

/huːz/

//huːz// det

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"whose" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“whose” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #919. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#919
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.

Corpus desk

Index EN-whose · whose · English

whose · rank #919 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #919
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH voice

Nearest frequency peer: voice (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “whose”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “whose” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

whose vs woe
60% similar
whose vs wise
60% similar
whose vs wore
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for whose
PropertyValue
Headwordwhose
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechDeterminer
IPA/huːz/
Letters5
Frequency rank#919
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “whose”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).whoselands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “voice” (#918), “writing” (#920), “version” (#917). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “whose” is #919. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around whose (IPA /huːz/), adeterminer. Corpus frequency is #919 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for whose, with forms such as "hwose", "whhose", and "whoes". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "woe", "wise", "wore", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”). The correct English form is whose, spelled W-H-O-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.
  2. 2
    Of whom, belonging to whom.
  3. 3
    Of which, belonging to which.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how whose appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Whose (wallet) is this?
  2. We should buy a house. ~ With whose money?

Etymology

From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”).

This word in other languages

cúyo(Español)dont(Français)wessen(Deutsch)cujo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hwose
  • whhose
  • whoes
  • whosse
  • whsoe
  • wohse
  • wwhose

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of whose - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hwose2whhose1whoes2whosse1whsoe2wohse2wwhose1
Edit distance from "whose"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "whose"?
"whose" is spelled W-H-O-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is /huːz/.
What does "whose" mean?
As a determiner, "whose" means: Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.
What words are commonly confused with "whose"?
"whose" is commonly confused with "woe", "wise", "wore". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "whose"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "whose" is /huːz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "whose"?
From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "whose", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

voice#918earth#923parts#911paper#910

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

rules7 variantssuccess7 variantsdaily7 variantscareer7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list