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Whether, weather, wether - the difference




(1) Whether is a conjunction with a similar meaning to 'if' (e.g., I wonder whether it will rain.)
(2) Weather refers to temperature, wind, clouds, rain, etc.
(3) A wether is a castrated ram (male sheep).

 

The words 'whether', 'weather' and 'wether' sound identical, but their meanings are very different.

Whether

The conjunction 'whether' is similar to 'if'.  It is most often used to introduce an indirect question. (Provided the spelling is correct, 'whether' is generally used correctly by native English speakers.  The rules for using 'whether' are covered in more detail in the lesson "Whether and If".)

Examples:

Sarah wants to know whether the visit is still on schedule.

I am going to the fair, whether it's raining or not.

Weather

As a noun, the word weather means the 'atmosphere in terms of temperature, wind and clouds and precipitation'.  As a verb, 'to weather' can mean 'to withstand' or 'to endure' (e.g., to weather an onslaught) or 'to erode (over time)' (e.g., to weather the surface rock).

Examples:

I am not going fishing today.  Have you seen the weather?
(weather as a noun)

We'll anchor up, weather the storm and then head back to land.
(weather as a verb meaning to endure)

The sea will weather that rope in less than a week.
(weather as a verb meaning to erode)

Wether

The noun wether denotes a male sheep, especially a castrated ram. 


         a wether

 Select the best answer to replace the missing word:
 
     
 
     
 
     
 
DID THE WETHER SURVIVE?

If you can follow this sentence, you have a good grasp of weather, whether and wether: 
The farmer looked out the window and wondered whether the wether would weather the weather or whether the weather would kill the wether.

See also:

Whether and if
What are conjunctions?
What are nouns?
What are verbs?
List of easily confused words

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