Which to use
“which” and “white” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,911
- “which” frequency rank
- #5,307
- “white” frequency rank
- 24218
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | which | white |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quel, quelle. Note d’usage : Utilisé quand il y a un choix à faire. Pour demander une réponse libre, on utilise what. | Blanc (de la couleur blanche). |
Where the eye mixes which and white
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses which with white
A purely visual mix-up. which (\wɪt͡ʃ\) and white (\ˈwaɪt\) 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 24218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
which is recorded at frequency rank #18,911, classified as anadj, pronounced \wɪt͡ʃ\. white is at rank #5,307, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈwaɪt\.
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 24218, this pair ranks #347,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of which vs white
Shared letters: hiw. Private to "which": c. Private to "white": et.
"which" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "white" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "which" and "white" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "which" vs "white" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "which" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "white" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "which" and "white" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "which vs whip". 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 #347,867 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.