ABSTRACT: This paper argues that the ‘world Englishes paradigm’ and English as a lingua franca (ELF) research, despite important differences, have much in common. Both share the pluricentric assumption that ‘English’ belongs to all those who use it, and both are concerned with the sociolinguistic, socio‐psychological, and applied linguistic implications of this assumption. For example, issues of language contact, variation and change, linguistic norms and their acceptance, ownership of the language, and expression of social identities are central to both WE and ELF research. The growing body of descriptive ELF research that is now becoming available can thus add substance to work in the field as a whole. It can also offer fresh perspectives on several theoretical constructs central to WE, such as ‘community’, ‘variety’, ‘lingua franca’, even ‘language’.