Who's or Whose?

The Quick Answer

Who's is short for who is or who has. (This is a 100% rule - it has no other uses.)

Whose is a bit more complicated. It sits before a noun to state (or ask) to whom it belongs. For example:

A king whose crown is too big.
Whose crown is this?

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The difference between who's and whose

The terms whose and who's sound identical, but they perform very different roles in English.

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Whose

Whose is the possessive form of who. It means belonging to whom. Whose usually sits before a noun.

Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.

Whose

visit

Whose

relative pronoun

Whose bike was expensive?

Whose

bike

Whose

interrogative determiner

Carl knows the girl whose phone was stolen.

Whose

phone

Whose

relative pronoun

Who's

Who's is a contraction of either who is or who has. It has no other uses.

Who's coming to fix the bed?

who is

Who's eaten the last muffin?

who has

I met the inspector who's delivering tomorrow's briefing.

who is

A Bit More about Whose

There's a lot going on with whose. As well as being a relative pronoun, whose is also a determiner. You will see it listed among the possessive determiners and, because it can be used to ask a question, also as an interrogative determiner. The table below shows whose listed among the other possessive determiners.

Personal Pronoun	Possessive Determiner	Example
I	my	I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive. (Queen Elizabeth I)
you	your	If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. (South African cleric Desmond Tutu)
he	his	If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles. (Founding Father Benjamin Franklin)
she	her	She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon. (Comedian Groucho Marx)
it	its	Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy. (Author Leo Buscaglia)
we	our	How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. (Author Annie Dillard)
they	their	Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth. (Martial artist Chuck Norris)
who	whose	The key is to keep company only with people whose presence calls forth your best. (Greek philosopher Epictetus)