works vs worlds, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,219
“works” frequency rank: #40,972
“worlds” frequency rank: 63191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	works	worlds
Definition	Plural des Substantivs work	Plural des Substantivs world

Where the eye mixes works and worlds

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch

works

6 ch

worlds

Visual trap between works and worlds

A purely visual mix-up. works ([wɜːks]) and worlds ([wɜː(ɹ)ldz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

works is recorded at frequency rank #22,219, classified as anoun, pronounced [wɜːks]. worlds is at rank #40,972, tagged as anoun, pronounced [wɜː(ɹ)ldz].

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 63191, this pair ranks #685,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of works vs worlds

Shared letters: orsw. Private to "works": k. Private to "worlds": dl.

"works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "worlds" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

works ← owrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks
worlds ← owrlds · wolrds · wordls · worldds · worldss · worllds · worlsd · worrlds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "works" for "worlds" ever safe?

No. They are said differently ([wɜːks] versus [wɜː(ɹ)ldz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "works" or "worlds"?

"works" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,219 in our German list, against #40,972 for "worlds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "works" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "worlds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #685,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"works" and "worlds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Werds vs worlds". 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 #685,521 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.