what's the difference vs whatever

what's the difference

phrase
  • The difference does not matter; so what? 

  • Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see what, is, the, difference. 

whatever

adv
  • In what way; to what extent. 

  • At all; in any way; whatsoever. 

noun
  • Something whose exact kind or nature is unimportant; a thingy. 

pron
  • Anything; thing(s) of unspecified kind, or no matter what kind; sometimes used to indicate that the speaker does not care about options. 

  • Anything that; all that. 

  • Regardless of anything that. 

  • What ever; emphasised form of 'what', used to ask which thing, event, circumstance, etc. 

det
  • What ever; emphatic form of 'what'. 

  • Regardless of the ... that; for any ... that. 

  • Any ... that; of no matter what type or kind that. 

  • Any; of no matter what type or kind. 

adj
  • Unexceptional or unimportant; blah. 

intj
  • A holophrastic expression used to dismiss something that the speaker doesn't care about, doesn't think important, or doesn't want to consider or discuss any further. 

How often have the words what's the difference and whatever occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )