wokvswoofWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“wok” and “woof” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,773
“wok” frequency rank
#24,959
“woof” frequency rank
62732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wok woof
Definition A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking. The set of yarns carried by the shuttle of a loom which are placed crosswise at right angles to and interlaced with the warp; the weft.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wok and woof apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
wok
4 ch
woof

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wok (/wɒk/) and woof (/wuːf/) 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 62732, 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/. woof is at rank #24,959, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wuːf/.

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 62732, this pair ranks #86,829 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wok vs woof

Shared letters: ow. Private to "wok": k. Private to "woof": f.

"wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "woof" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • woofowof · wof · wofo · wooff · wwoof

Frequency comparison

wok#37,773
woof#24,959

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wok" and "woof" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/wɒk/ versus /wuːf/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wok" or "woof"?
"woof" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,959 in our English list, against #37,773 for "wok". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wok vs woof

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list