workingvsyearsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,089
“working” frequency rank
#13,282
“years” frequency rank
32371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature working years
Definition Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs work Plural des Substantivs year

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set working and years apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
working
5 ch
years

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

working and years form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

working is recorded at frequency rank #19,089, classified as averb, pronounced […]. years is at rank #13,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 32371, this pair ranks #1,709,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

working#19,089
years#13,282

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "working" and "years" be used interchangeably?
No, "working" and "years" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering working vs years

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “working”; for a noun, it's “years”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “working” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list