Which to use
“when” is an adverb and “wie” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,973
- “when” frequency rank
- #42,122
- “wie” frequency rank
- 53095
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | when | wie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quand. | Qui. |
Letter map: when vs wie
Shared letters muted; letters that set when and wie apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: when vs wie
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: when is anadverb and wieapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
when is recorded at frequency rank #10,973, classified as anadv, pronounced \ˈwɛn\. wie is at rank #42,122, tagged as apron.
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 53095, this pair ranks #143,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of when vs wie
Shared letters: ew. Private to "when": hn. Private to "wie": i.
"when" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "wie" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- when ← hwen · wehn · whenn · whhen · whne · wwhen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "when" for "wie" ever safe?
Which is more common, "when" or "wie"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "when" and "wie".
- Full dictionary entry for "when" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "when" and "wie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wie vs wren". 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 #143,098 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.