waldovswoldWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“waldo” and “wold” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,263
“waldo” frequency rank
#42,997
“wold” frequency rank
63260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature waldo wold
Definition Synonym of telefactor. An unforested or deforested plain, a grassland, a moor.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set waldo and wold apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
waldo
4 ch
wold

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. waldo (/ˈwɔːl.dəʊ/) and wold (/wəʊld/) 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 63260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

waldo is recorded at frequency rank #20,263, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɔːl.dəʊ/. wold is at rank #42,997, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wəʊld/.

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 63260, this pair ranks #83,944 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of waldo vs wold

Shared letters: dlow. Private to "waldo": a. Private to "wold": -.

"waldo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • waldoawldo · wadlo · walddo · walldo · walod · wlado · wwaldo
  • woldowld · wlod · wodl · woldd · wolld · wwold

Frequency comparison

waldo#20,263
wold#42,997

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "waldo" and "wold" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈwɔːl.dəʊ/ versus /wəʊld/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "waldo" or "wold"?
"waldo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,263 in our English list, against #42,997 for "wold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering waldo vs wold

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “waldo” 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