Which to use
“whore” and “wort” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,877
- “whore” frequency rank
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- 42789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whore | wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonym of prostitute: a person (especially a woman) who offers sexual services for payment. | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. |
Where the eye mixes whore and wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. whore runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against wort's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between whore and wort
A purely visual mix-up. whore (/hɔː/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whore is recorded at frequency rank #8,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɔː/. 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 42789, this pair ranks #246,047 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of whore vs wort
Shared letters: orw. Private to "whore": eh. Private to "wort": t.
"whore" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "whore" and "wort" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "whore" vs "wort" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "whore" 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 #246,047 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "whore" 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 #246,047 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.