Which to use
“wade” is a verb and “wide” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,250
- “wade” frequency rank
- #27,068
- “wide” frequency rank
- 42318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wade | wide |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vadear. | Ancho. |
Where the eye mixes wade and wide
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wade and wide
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wade is /weɪd/ while wide is /waɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “wade” becomes i in “wide”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wade is recorded at frequency rank #15,250, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪd/. wide is at rank #27,068, tagged as anadj, pronounced /waɪd/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 42318, this pair ranks #148,894 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wade vs wide
Shared letters: dew. Private to "wade": a. Private to "wide": i.
"wade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wade" and "wide" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "wade" or "wide"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wade" and "wide" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,894 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wade" and "wide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wide vs wife". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #148,894 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.