Who-Is-Whose | Commonly Confused Words

Who is

/huː ɪz/

A question phrase used to inquire about the identity of a person.

Who's leading the project next quarter?Who's that musician playing the violin?Who is calling at this late hour?

This word has no synonyms

This word has no antonyms

/huːz/

Used to ask or to indicate who something belongs to or is associated with

The devil, whose name was Mephostophilis, bowed courteously and disappeared.Whose is it?' The girl moved back, a little shocked.'Whose dog is that?'

This word has no synonyms

This word has no antonyms

Who is is often contracted to whos. This can make it easily confused with whose, but remember whose' shows possession.
Think of who is as a question about identity or status, while whose relates to ownership or association.
If you can replace the word with who is and the sentence still makes sense, then the correct word is likely whos'.
Whose asks about possession, as in Whose book is this? - the answer will be a person's name or pronoun indicating possession.
Remember: who is could answer questions like Whos walking the dog? while whose would be used in Whose dog is this?'