Which to use
“wean” is a verb and “worn” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,968
- “wean” frequency rank
- #4,644
- “worn” frequency rank
- 45612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wean | worn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder. | Damaged and shabby as a result of much use. |
Where the eye mixes wean and worn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wean and worn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wean is /wiːn/ while worn is /wɔːn/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wean is recorded at frequency rank #40,968, classified as averb, pronounced /wiːn/. worn is at rank #4,644, tagged as anadj, pronounced /wɔːn/.
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 45612, this pair ranks #219,598 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wean vs worn
Shared letters: nw. Private to "wean": ae. Private to "worn": or.
"wean" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "worn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wean" for "worn" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wean" vs "worn" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wean" and "worn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wean" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,598 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wean" and "worn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wac vs wean". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #219,598 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.