wievswishWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wie is a pronoun, wish is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wie” is a pronoun and “wish” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,122
“wie” frequency rank
#25,858
“wish” frequency rank
67980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wie wish
Definition Qui. Vœu, gré.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
wie
4 ch
wish

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wie is apronoun and wishanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wie is recorded at frequency rank #42,122, classified as apron. 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 67980, this pair ranks #61,118 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wie vs wish

Shared letters: iw. Private to "wie": e. Private to "wish": hs.

"wie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "wish" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wishiwsh · wihs · wishh · wissh · wsih · wwish

Frequency comparison

wie#42,122
wish#25,858

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wie" and "wish" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wie" is a pronoun and "wish" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wie" or "wish"?
"wish" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,858 in our French list, against #42,122 for "wie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wie vs wish

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “wie”; for a noun, it's “wish”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wie” 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