title

Weather vs Whether | Grammar Differences

Born in Málaga, Spain, Cris has always had a passion for languages; learning English as a second language himself. Cris has worked for in a wide variety of roles for different companies in the ELT space. Cris is a musician, a basketballer and self-professed “gamer”.

See more articles from Cristobal

22 January 2021

When you're learning English, do you often get confused when you come across two words that sound the same but mean different things? Here's one that a lot of people, even native speakers, get mixed up: the difference between the words weather and whether.

It's easy to confuse the two, because they are homophones. Homophones are two words that sound the same ("homo" = same, "phono" = sound), even though they mean different things and are spelled differently.

Weather

When we talk about the weather, we're talking about if it is raining, or hot or cold. Some things you would say about the weather are:

The weather has been really bad this week. It's been raining every day.
The football game was cancelled because of bad weather

Whether

The word whether is used to show a choice between multiple things. There are many different ways to use this word:

Ask Tim whether he would like to go to the movies. (In this case "or not" is implied, not stated directly)
Do you know whether Tim has gone home or if he is still in class?
We will play our football match whether it rains or shines

If you get confused, just remember that "rain" is a type of weather, and both have an "a" in them!

Want to stay up to date on all things Kaplan?

Get all the latest updates on new products, courses and destinations!

Assure or Ensure | Grammar Differences

English has one of the largest vocabularies of all languages, and the only way we can keep this distinction is by having a number of words that mean slightly different things, but fulfill similar roles....

Language Tips

4 min read

1 October 2020

How to Talk About Weather in English

One of the most basic topics of conversation is the weather. It seems like a discussion that you can't get away from! It's also an easy way to start a conversation, even with strangers. ...

Language Tips

4 min read

8 February 2021

Fun vs. Funny | Grammar Tips

Fun and funny are two words that lots of non-native English speaking students struggle with. There’s a fine line between the two meanings of fun and funny, but getting them wrong can cause a great deal of confusion for the person you’re speaking to....