wartvsworthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wart is a noun, worth is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wart” is a noun and “worth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,680
“wart” frequency rank
#726
“worth” frequency rank
39406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wart worth
Definition A type of deformed growth occurring on the skin caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
wart
5 ch
worth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wart is /wɔːt/ while worth is /wɜːθ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wart is recorded at frequency rank #38,680, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɔːt/. worth is at rank #726, tagged as anadj, pronounced /wɜːθ/.

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 39406, this pair ranks #277,031 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wart vs worth

Shared letters: rtw. Private to "wart": a. Private to "worth": ho.

"wart" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "worth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wartawrt · warrt · wartt · watr · wrat · wwart
  • worthowrth · worht · worrth · worthh · wortth · wotrh · wroth · wworth

Frequency comparison

wart#38,680
worth#726

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wart" and "worth" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wart" is a noun and "worth" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wart" or "worth"?
"worth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #726 in our English list, against #38,680 for "wart". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wart vs worth

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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