Which to use
“were” is a noun and “wide” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,865
- “were” frequency rank
- #11,980
- “wide” frequency rank
- 25845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | were | wide |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | homem, algo hominizado | largo |
Letter map: were vs wide
Shared letters muted; letters that set were and wide apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - were and wide
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: were is anoun and wideanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
were is recorded at frequency rank #13,865, classified as anoun. wide is at rank #11,980, tagged as anadj, pronounced /waɪd/, /wɑed/ (Austrália).
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 25845, this pair ranks #43,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of were vs wide
Shared letters: ew. Private to "were": r. Private to "wide": di.
"were" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "were" for "wide" ever safe?
Frequency check: "were" vs "wide" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "were" vs "wide" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "were" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "were" and "wide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "were vs worm". 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 #43,400 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.