wonvsworkWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“won” and “work” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,404
“won” frequency rank
#7,425
“work” frequency rank
32829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature won work
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs win einer (meist festen) bezahlten Arbeit nachgehen; arbeiten

Letter map: won vs work

Shared letters muted; letters that set won and work apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
won
4 ch
work

Spelling & dictionary notes on won vs work

won and work are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

won is recorded at frequency rank #25,404, classified as averb, pronounced […]. 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 32829, this pair ranks #1,699,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of won vs work

Shared letters: ow. Private to "won": n. Private to "work": kr.

"won" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • workowrk · wokr · workk · worrk · wrok · wwork

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "won" and "work" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "won" vs "work" - which ranks higher?
"work" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,425 in our German list, against #25,404 for "won". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "won" and "work".

  • Full dictionary entry for "won" 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 #1,699,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "won" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs won". 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 #1,699,158 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list