Which to use
“wit” and “wort” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,637
- “wit” frequency rank
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- 41549
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wit | wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sanity. | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. |
Where the eye mixes wit and wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wit vs wort
A purely visual mix-up. wit (/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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wit is recorded at frequency rank #7,637, 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 41549, this pair ranks #257,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wit vs wort
Shared letters: tw. Private to "wit": i. Private to "wort": or.
"wit" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wort ← owrt · worrt · wortt · wotr · wrot · wwort
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wit" for "wort" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wit" vs "wort" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wit" 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 #257,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wit" 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 #257,327 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.