Which to use
“which” is an adjective and “wish” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,911
- “which” frequency rank
- #25,858
- “wish” frequency rank
- 44769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | which | wish |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quel, quelle. Note d’usage : Utilisé quand il y a un choix à faire. Pour demander une réponse libre, on utilise what. | Vœu, gré. |
Where the eye mixes which and wish
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses which with wish
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: which is \wɪt͡ʃ\ while wish is \wɪʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44769, 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\. wish is at rank #25,858, tagged as anoun, pronounced \wɪʃ\.
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 44769, this pair ranks #207,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of which vs wish
Shared letters: hiw. Private to "which": c. Private to "wish": s.
"which" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "wish" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "which" and "wish" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "which" or "wish"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "which" and "wish" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "which" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wish" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #207,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "which" and "wish" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wink vs wish". 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 #207,970 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.