waresvswartWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,152
“wares” frequency rank
#38,680
“wart” frequency rank
61832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wares wart
Definition plural of ware A type of deformed growth occurring on the skin caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
wares
4 ch
wart

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wares (/wɛəz/) and wart (/wɔːt/) 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 61832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wares is recorded at frequency rank #23,152, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɛəz/. wart is at rank #38,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɔːt/.

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 61832, this pair ranks #91,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wares vs wart

Shared letters: arw. Private to "wares": es. Private to "wart": t.

"wares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "wart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • waresawres · waress · warres · warse · wraes · wwares
  • wartawrt · warrt · wartt · watr · wrat · wwart

Frequency comparison

wares#23,152
wart#38,680

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wares" and "wart" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/wɛəz/ versus /wɔːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wares" or "wart"?
"wares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,152 in our English list, against #38,680 for "wart". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wares vs wart

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 “wares” 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