wentvswinkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“went” and “wink” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,529
“went” frequency rank
#47,685
“wink” frequency rank
94214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature went wink
Definition Prétérit de go. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de winken.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set went and wink apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
went
4 ch
wink

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. went (\ˈwɛnt\) and wink (\vɪŋk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

went is recorded at frequency rank #46,529, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈwɛnt\. wink is at rank #47,685, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɪŋk\.

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 94214, this pair ranks #1,781 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of went vs wink

Shared letters: nw. Private to "went": et. Private to "wink": ik.

"went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wentewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent
  • winkiwnk · wikn · winkk · winnk · wnik · wwink

Frequency comparison

went#46,529
wink#47,685

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "went" and "wink" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈwɛnt\ versus \vɪŋk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "went" or "wink"?
"went" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,529 in our French list, against #47,685 for "wink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering went vs wink

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “went” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list