wildevswilderConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,445
“wilde” frequency rank
#36,660
“wilder” frequency rank
61105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wilde wilder
Definition Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de wild. Comparatif de wild.

Where the eye mixes wilde and wilder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wilde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against wilder's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
wilde
6 ch
wilder

Look-alike desk: wilde vs wilder

A purely visual mix-up. wilde (\ˈvɪldə\) and wilder (\ˈvɪl.dɐ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “wilde” sits inside “wilder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wilde is recorded at frequency rank #24,445, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈvɪldə\. wilder is at rank #36,660, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈvɪl.dɐ\.

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 61105, this pair ranks #94,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wilde vs wilder

Shared letters: deilw. Private to "wilde": -. Private to "wilder": r.

"wilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wilder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wilde ← iwlde · widle · wildde · wiled · willde · wlide · wwilde
  • wilder ← iwlder · widler · wildder · wilderr · wildre · wiledr · willder · wlider

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wilde" and "wilder" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈvɪldə\ versus \ˈvɪl.dɐ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wilde" vs "wilder" - which ranks higher?
"wilde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,445 in our French list, against #36,660 for "wilder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wilder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wilde" and "wilder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wiener vs wilder". 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 #94,045 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list