Which to use
“wait” and “weight” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,594
- “wait” frequency rank
- #47,146
- “weight” frequency rank
- 66740
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wait | weight |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | espera | peso |
Same sound, different letters: wait vs weight
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - wait / weight
This is the hard kind. wait and weight are pronounced identically (/weɪt/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wait is recorded at frequency rank #19,594, classified as anoun, pronounced /weɪt/. weight is at rank #47,146, tagged as anoun, pronounced /weɪt/.
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 66740, this pair ranks #4,877 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wait vs weight
Shared letters: itw. Private to "wait": a. Private to "weight": egh.
"wait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "weight" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wait" for "weight" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wait" or "weight"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "wait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weight" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,877 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wait" and "weight" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wait vs watt". 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 #4,877 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.