Which to use
“werk” is a verb and “worn” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,860
- “werk” frequency rank
- #4,644
- “worn” frequency rank
- 51504
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | werk | worn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of work. | Damaged and shabby as a result of much use. |
Letter map: werk vs worn
Shared letters muted; letters that set werk and worn apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. werk and worn follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for werk / worn
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: werk is averb and wornanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
werk is recorded at frequency rank #46,860, classified as averb. 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 51504, this pair ranks #164,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of werk vs worn
Shared letters: rw. Private to "werk": ek. Private to "worn": no.
"werk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "worn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "werk" and "worn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "werk" or "worn"?
Useful next steps
Pair "werk" vs "worn" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "werk" 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 #164,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "werk" and "worn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wea vs werk". 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 #164,897 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.