Which to use
“whit” and “wort” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,357
- “whit” frequency rank
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- 58269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whit | wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota. | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. |
Where the eye mixes whit and wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. whit (CCVC) and wort (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between whit and wort
A purely visual mix-up. whit (/wɪt/) and wort (/wɜːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whit is recorded at frequency rank #24,357, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɪt/. wort is at rank #33,912, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɜːt/.
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 58269, this pair ranks #113,685 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of whit vs wort
Shared letters: tw. Private to "whit": hi. Private to "wort": or.
"whit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "whit" for "wort" ever safe?
Which is more common, "whit" or "wort"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "whit" and "wort" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "whit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wort" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,685 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "whit" and "wort" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wort vs wove". 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 #113,685 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.