Which to use
“walk” is a verb and “well” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #891
- “walk” frequency rank
- #99
- “well” frequency rank
- 990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | walk | well |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Accurately, competently, satisfactorily. |
Where the eye mixes walk and well
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: walk is /wɔːk/ while well is /ˈwɛl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
walk is recorded at frequency rank #891, classified as averb, pronounced /wɔːk/. well is at rank #99, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈwɛl/.
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 990, this pair ranks #528,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of walk vs well
Shared letters: lw. Private to "walk": ak. Private to "well": e.
"walk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "well" · 4 letters · shape CVCC