# wrest

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɛst/ · frequency rank #45,755

## Definitions
1. To pull or twist violently.
2. To obtain by pulling or violent force.
3. To seize.
4. To distort, to pervert, to twist.
5. To tune with a wrest, or key.

## Etymology
From Middle English wresten, wrasten, wræsten, from Old English wrǣstan (“to twist forcibly, wrench”), from Proto-Germanic *wraistijaną, (compare Proto-Germanic *wrīhaną (“to turn, wind; to cover, envelop”), *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist”), Old Norse reista (“to bend, twist”)), from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *wreiḱ-, *wreyḱ- (“to bend, twist”), *wreyt- (“to bend”). See also writhe, wry.
The noun is derived from the verb.

## Easily confused with
- **writ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrest-vs-writ)
- **wrist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrest-vs-wrist)
- **wrestle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrest-vs-wrestle)
- **wet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wet-vs-wrest)
- **Wes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wes-vs-wrest)
- **went** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/went-vs-wrest)
- **west** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wrest)
- **woes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woes-vs-wrest)
- **wept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wept-vs-wrest)
- **wren** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wren-vs-wrest)
- **Welt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/welt-vs-wrest)
- **whet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whet-vs-wrest)
- **worst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/worst-vs-wrest)
- **wheat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wheat-vs-wrest)
- **waist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waist-vs-wrest)
- **wreck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wreck-vs-wrest)
- **wires** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wires-vs-wrest)
- **wares** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wares-vs-wrest)
- **wreak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wreak-vs-wrest)
- **wreath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wreath-vs-wrest)

## Common misspellings (8)
`rwest`, `werst`, `wresst`, `wrestt`, `wrets`, `wrrest`, `wrset`, `wwrest`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wrest