waavswalkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: waa is a intj, walk is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“waa” is an intj and “walk” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,413
“waa” frequency rank
#891
“walk” frequency rank
48304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature waa walk
Definition Alternative spelling of wah (“sound of a baby crying”) To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set waa and walk apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
waa
4 ch
walk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: waa is /wæː/ while walk is /wɔːk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

waa is recorded at frequency rank #47,413, classified as anintj, pronounced /wæː/. walk is at rank #891, tagged as averb, pronounced /wɔːk/.

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 48304, this pair ranks #194,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of waa vs walk

Shared letters: aw. Private to "waa": -. Private to "walk": kl.

"waa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "walk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • walkawlk · wakl · walkk · wallk · wlak · wwalk

Frequency comparison

waa#47,413
walk#891

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "waa" and "walk" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "waa" is an intj and "walk" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "waa" or "walk"?
"walk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #891 in our English list, against #47,413 for "waa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering waa vs walk

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an intj, it's “waa”; for a verb, it's “walk”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “waa” 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