Which to use
“wire” is a noun and “work” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,395
- “wire” frequency rank
- #7,425
- “work” frequency rank
- 40820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wire | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Draht, Anschlusskabel | einer (meist festen) bezahlten Arbeit nachgehen; arbeiten |
Where the eye mixes wire and work
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wire and work
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wire is [waɪə] while work is [wɜːk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wire is recorded at frequency rank #33,395, classified as anoun, pronounced [waɪə]. work is at rank #7,425, tagged as averb, pronounced [wɜːk].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 40820, this pair ranks #1,497,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wire vs work
Shared letters: rw. Private to "wire": ei. Private to "work": ko.
"wire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wire" for "work" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wire" vs "work" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "work" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,497,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wire" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wig vs wire". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,497,346 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.