wordsvsworkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: words is a noun, work is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“words” is a noun and “work” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,972
“words” frequency rank
#7,425
“work” frequency rank
30397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature words work
Definition Plural des Substantivs word einer (meist festen) bezahlten Arbeit nachgehen; arbeiten

Letter map: words vs work

Shared letters muted; letters that set words and work apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
words
4 ch
work

Role in the sentence - words and work

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: words is anoun and workaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

words is recorded at frequency rank #22,972, classified as anoun, 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 30397, this pair ranks #1,748,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of words vs work

Shared letters: orw. Private to "words": ds. Private to "work": k.

"words" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wordsowrds · wodrs · wordds · wordss · worrds · worsd · wrods · wwords
  • workowrk · wokr · workk · worrk · wrok · wwork

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "words" and "work" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "words" is a noun and "work" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "words" or "work"?
"work" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,425 in our German list, against #22,972 for "words". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "words" vs "work" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "words" 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 #1,748,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "words" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs words". 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 #1,748,671 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