when
/wɛn/
The verdict
“when” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #13,378 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #13,378
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Cuándo.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | when |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /wɛn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #13,378 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “when” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for when is 4 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɛn/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,378 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Cuándo.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for when, with forms such as "hwen", "wehn", and "whenn". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "who", "win", "why", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is when, spelled W-H-E-N.
Definition
- 1Cuándo.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hwen,wehn,whenn,whhen,whne,wwhen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of when - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “when”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is W-H-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɛn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “who” - see the side-by-side comparison. when vs who
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.