what

/wɔt/

//wɔt// adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“what” has 6 generated spelling variants in the Portuguese index at frequency #4,525. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,525
frequency rank, Portuguese
110
“W” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - em alguma maneira ou grau; em parte; geralmente seguido de with

Corpus desk

Index PT-what · what · Portuguese

what · rank #4,525 · 6 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,525
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 110
  • PHOTO-FINISH Wilson

Nearest frequency peer: Wilson (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rank junto ao íman ortográfico “what”

Mesma faixa de raridade: útil se um typo cair num lema vizinho

corpus weight

What this shows “what” está entre estes pares FrequencyWords; a profundidade de typo mede-se à parte no gráfico de distância de edição.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

what vs who
50% similar
what vs why
50% similar
what vs white
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for what
PropertyValue
Headwordwhat
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/wɔt/
Letters4
Frequency rank#4,525
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequência do íman ortográfico “what”

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).whatcai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “Wilson” (#4,526), “afirmar” (#4,528), “biologia” (#4,531). Entre 110 lemas com “W”, “what” fica em #4,525. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around what (IPA /wɔt/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #4,525 among 110 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for what, with forms such as "hwat", "waht", and "whatt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "who", "why", "white", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is what, spelled W-H-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    em alguma maneira ou grau; em parte; geralmente seguido de with
  2. 2
    tal; isto é

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how what appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. What with singing and joking, the time passed quickly.
  2. What a beautiful day

Synonyms

such

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hwat
  • waht
  • whatt
  • whhat
  • whta
  • wwhat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of what - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hwat2waht2whatt1whhat1whta2wwhat1
Edit distance from "what"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "what"?
"what" is spelled W-H-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /wɔt/.
What does "what" mean?
As an adverb, "what" means: em alguma maneira ou grau; em parte; geralmente seguido de with
What words are commonly confused with "what"?
"what" is commonly confused with "who", "why", "white". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "what"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "what" is /wɔt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "what" come from?
"what" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "what", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

rose#4,517raiz#4,512nave#4,499good#4,562

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

abuso6 variantsácido6 variantscrer6 variantsexato6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list