Were, where, and we’re sound similar but mean different things and are used in different ways in English.

Were

  • Grammar role : Verb (past tense of “are”).
  • Meaning : Talks about something that used to be true or a hypothetical situation.
  • Examples :
    • “We were at the park yesterday.”
* “If I **were** rich, I’d travel the world.”

Quick tip

If you can swap the word with “was” (for singular) or “are” (for present), you probably want were.

Where

  • Grammar role : Usually an adverb (sometimes a conjunction).
  • Meaning : Refers to place or location , literal or figurative.
  • Examples :
    • “Where are my keys?”
* “Home is **where** the heart is.”

Quick tip

If you’re talking about a place (real or abstract), use where.

We’re

  • Grammar role : Contraction.
  • Meaning : Short for “we are.”
  • Examples :
    • “We’re going to the movies.” → “We are going to the movies.”
* “**We’re** happy you came.” → “**We are** happy you came.”

Quick tip

If you can replace the word with “we are” and the sentence still makes sense, use we’re.

Put them together

A single sentence can use all three correctly:

“We’re not sure where they were last night.”

  • We’re = “we are”
  • Where = place/location
  • Were = past tense of “are”

Mini forum-style FAQ

Q: Why do people mix them up online?
They sound almost identical in many accents, and typing fast on chats, forums, and social feeds makes it easy to pick the wrong one.

Q: Which one is most often wrong in memes and comments?
We’re is often written as were or where , because the apostrophe is easy to skip.

TL;DR :

  • were = past of “are” (verb).
  • where = place/location.
  • we’re = “we are.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.