Which to use
“wok” is a noun and “woken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,773
- “wok” frequency rank
- #17,995
- “woken” frequency rank
- 55768
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wok | woken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking. | past participle of wake |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wok and woken apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wok is /wɒk/ while woken is /ˈwəʊ.kən/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wok” sits inside “woken”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wok is recorded at frequency rank #37,773, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɒk/. woken is at rank #17,995, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwəʊ.kən/.
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 55768, this pair ranks #131,116 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wok vs woken
Shared letters: kow. Private to "wok": -. Private to "woken": en.
"wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "woken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- woken ← owken · wkoen · woekn · wokenn · wokken · wokne · wwoken
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wok" and "woken" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "wok" or "woken"?
Remembering wok vs woken
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “wok”; for a verb, it's “woken”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wok” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable