widevswildeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,076
“wide” frequency rank
#24,445
“wilde” frequency rank
57521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wide wilde
Definition Large. Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de wild.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wide and wilde apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
wide
5 ch
wilde

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wide (\waɪd\) and wilde (\ˈvɪldə\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wide is recorded at frequency rank #33,076, classified as anadj, pronounced \waɪd\. wilde is at rank #24,445, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈvɪldə\.

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 57521, this pair ranks #114,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wide vs wilde

Shared letters: deiw. Private to "wide": -. Private to "wilde": l.

"wide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "wilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wideiwde · wdie · widde · wied · wwide
  • wildeiwlde · widle · wildde · wiled · willde · wlide · wwilde

Frequency comparison

wide#33,076
wilde#24,445

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wide" and "wilde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\waɪd\ versus \ˈvɪldə\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wide" or "wilde"?
"wilde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,445 in our French list, against #33,076 for "wide". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wide vs wilde

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 “wide” 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