Which to use
“world” and “worlds” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,374
- “world” frequency rank
- #40,972
- “worlds” frequency rank
- 43346
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | world | worlds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kein Plural: der Planet Erde | Plural des Substantivs world |
Where the eye mixes world and worlds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses world with worlds
A purely visual mix-up. world ([wɜː(ɹ)ld]) 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 extra letter(s) - “world” sits inside “worlds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
world is recorded at frequency rank #2,374, classified as anoun, pronounced [wɜː(ɹ)ld]. 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 43346, this pair ranks #1,420,983 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of world vs worlds
Shared letters: dlorw. Private to "world": -. Private to "worlds": s.
"world" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "worlds" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "world" and "worlds" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "world" or "worlds" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "world" and "worlds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "world" 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 #1,420,983 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "world" 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 #1,420,983 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.