Where asks about or points to a place, were is a past form of the verb be, wear means to have clothes on your body, and we're is short for we are. If you are not sure which one you need, put a simple test word into the sentence, as shown at the end of this article.
Some words look and sound so much alike that it is hard to choose between them. Where, were, wear, and we're are a prime example. Most easily confused words come in pairs or groups of three, but this group has four, and that makes it a problem for many people, not just writers.
Strictly speaking, only where and wear are homophones, words that sound the same but have different meanings. Were rhymes with fur, and we're usually rhymes with here. But all four are spelled almost the same, and in quick speech they come close, so they are mixed up all the time. Luckily, a few tips make the choice easier.
A problematic group of words
The where, were, wear, and we're group is a real problem for students and writers because it has more than two members. Wear and we're cause trouble too, but where and were are the two that people confuse most often. Here is how to tell all four apart.
If tricky pronouns are your problem, read about who or whom as well.
Similar words, different classes
Were and where sound similar and are spelled almost the same, but they belong to different word classes.
Were
Were is a past tense form of the verb be. It goes with you, we, they, and plural nouns, while was goes with I, he, she, and it. You use were for something that already happened. Like all forms of be, it is a state-of-being verb. It also appears in wishes and unreal situations: If I were you.
Examples:
- Were you listening to the news last night?
- Both of my best friends were out of town yesterday.
- Can you tell me if you were sleeping when I called?
In every one of these examples, were is in the past tense. If you put where in its place, the sentence would not make sense.
Where
Of all four words, where is the most versatile and the easiest to recognize, because it always has to do with a place, a position, or a situation. That makes where an adverb of place. It is also a question word that asks for the place of someone or something. Many people remember where as one of the five "W" question words; the other four are who, what, when, and why. In pronunciation, where sounds exactly like wear.
Examples:
- Can you please tell Michael where I live?
- Don't forget to tell Mom where you are going later.
- Where in New York do you work again?
In some sentences, where can also mean "in which":
- Can you think of an example where you can use those colors together?
- Can you think of an example in which you can use those colors together?
Both sentences are correct. In formal writing, though, in which is often the better choice, especially when you are not talking about a real place.
Here, too, try to put were in place of where: none of the sentences would make any sense.
Wear
Wear is mostly a verb. It means to have clothes, shoes, jewelry, or glasses on your body. Its past forms are wore and worn. Wear is also a noun: it can mean clothing of a certain kind (evening wear), or the damage that comes from use (wear and tear).
Examples:
- I love it when you wear those jeans.
- Nobody should wear a turtleneck in the summer.
- That couch shows a lot of wear and tear.
We're
We're may be the easiest of the four to remember, because it is simply a contraction of we are. The apostrophe takes the place of the letter a.
Examples:
- We're all going to the game tomorrow.
- The next time she comes over, we're going to tell her the truth.
- No, we're not leaving until it is finished.
For more rules like these, see six important grammar rules you need to know.
All four in one sentence
Here is a sentence that uses all four words correctly:
Where were you when Angela said she wants to wear the shirts we're washing?
The simple test
The easiest way to pick the right word is to replace it with another word and see whether the sentence still makes sense:
- If you can say we are instead, write we're.
- If you can put are in its place and the sentence simply moves to the present, write were.
- If the sentence asks about or points to a place, write where. It even has here in it.
- If you mean having something on your body, write wear.
Other groups of sound-alike words work the same way, for example there, their, and they're. Because all four are real words, a check that only looks each word up in a dictionary may not flag the wrong one. Read the sentence again with the test words in mind, or let the AI Spell Checker read it: it looks at whole sentences, so it also catches a real word in the wrong place.