were

/wɜː(ɹ)/

//wɜː(ɹ)// verb

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

The verdict

“were” has 5 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #19,290. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#19,290
frequency rank, Spanish
230
“W” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Segunda persona del singular (you) del pasado simple (irregular) de indicativo del verbo (to) be

Corpus desk

Index ES-were · were · Spanish

were · rank #19,290 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,290
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 230
  • PHOTO-FINISH yegua

Nearest frequency peer: yegua (+1 rank slots)

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.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “were”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “were” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

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).

were vs wey
50% similar
were vs west
50% similar
were vs word
50% similar

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

Key facts for were
PropertyValue
Headwordwere
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/wɜː(ɹ)/
Letters4
Frequency rank#19,290
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “were”

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.werecae aquí:

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

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “yegua” (#19,291), “óptima” (#19,292), “visas” (#19,287). Entre 230 lemas con “W”, “were” va en #19,290. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around were (IPA /wɜː(ɹ)/), averb. Corpus frequency is #19,290 among 230 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for were, with forms such as "ewre", "weer", and "werre". 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, "wey", "west", "word", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is were, spelled W-E-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Segunda persona del singular (you) del pasado simple (irregular) de indicativo del verbo (to) be
  2. 2
    Primera, segunda y tercera personas del plural del tiempo pasado del modo indicativo del verbo be.
  3. 3
    Pasado simple (irregular) del subjuntivo del verbo (to) be.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ewre
  • weer
  • werre
  • wree
  • wwere

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ewre2weer2werre1wree2wwere1
Edit distance from "were"

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "were"?
"were" is spelled W-E-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /wɜː(ɹ)/.
What does "were" mean?
As a verb, "were" means: Segunda persona del singular (you) del pasado simple (irregular) de indicativo del verbo (to) be
What words are commonly confused with "were"?
"were" is commonly confused with "wey", "west", "word". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "were"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "were" is /wɜː(ɹ)/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "were" come from?
"were" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

unan#19,278soft#19,253save#19,248robe#19,241

Similar misspelling depth

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

dote5 variantsmemo5 variantsMeca5 variantsfiera5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list