Which to use
“whorl” is a noun and “worn” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,722
- “whorl” frequency rank
- #4,644
- “worn” frequency rank
- 54366
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | whorl | worn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Each circle, volution or equivalent in a pattern of concentric circles, ovals, arcs, or a spiral. | Damaged and shabby as a result of much use. |
Where the eye mixes whorl and worn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between whorl and worn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: whorl is /(h)wɔː(ɹ)l/ while worn is /wɔːn/. 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 54366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
whorl is recorded at frequency rank #49,722, classified as anoun, pronounced /(h)wɔː(ɹ)l/. 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 54366, this pair ranks #141,637 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of whorl vs worn
Shared letters: orw. Private to "whorl": hl. Private to "worn": n.
"whorl" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "worn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "whorl" for "worn" ever safe?
Which is more common, "whorl" or "worn"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "whorl" and "worn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "whorl" 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 #141,637 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "whorl" and "worn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whoo vs whorl". 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 #141,637 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.