Which to use
“overwork” is a verb and “overworked” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,098
- “overwork” frequency rank
- #29,027
- “overworked” frequency rank
- 75125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | overwork | overworked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make (someone or something) work too hard. | Subjected to too much work. |
Letter map: overwork vs overworked
Shared letters muted; letters that set overwork and overworked apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Role in the sentence - overwork and overworked
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: overwork is averb and overworkedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “overwork” sits inside “overworked”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
overwork is recorded at frequency rank #46,098, classified as averb, pronounced /ˌəʊvəˈwɜːk/. overworked is at rank #29,027, tagged as anadj.
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 75125, this pair ranks #34,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of overwork vs overworked
Shared letters: ekorvw. Private to "overwork": -. Private to "overworked": d.
"overwork" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC · "overworked" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- overwork ← oevrwork · overowrk · overrwork · overwokr · overworkk · overworrk · overwrok · overwwork
- overworked ← oevrworked · overowrked · overrworked · overwokred · overworekd · overworkde · overworkedd · overworkked
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "overwork" for "overworked" ever safe?
Frequency check: "overwork" vs "overworked" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "overwork" and "overworked".
- Full dictionary entry for "overwork" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "overworked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "overwork" and "overworked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "overtook vs overwork". 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 #34,112 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.