Which to use
“what” is an adverb and “what's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,525
- “what” frequency rank
- #16,910
- “what's” frequency rank
- 21435
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what | what's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em alguma maneira ou grau; em parte; geralmente seguido de with | what is (o que é, está) |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set what and what's apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: what is /wɔt/ while what's is /wɑts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “what” sits inside “what's”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what is recorded at frequency rank #4,525, classified as anadv, pronounced /wɔt/. what's is at rank #16,910, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /wɑts/.
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 21435, this pair ranks #48,825 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of what vs what's
Shared letters: ahtw. Private to "what": -. Private to "what's": s.
"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "what's" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- what ← hwat · waht · whatt · whhat · whta · wwhat
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "what" and "what's" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "what" or "what's"?
Remembering what vs what's
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “what”; for a contraction, it's “what's”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “what” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable