Which to use
“wok” and “work” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,773
- “wok” frequency rank
- #116
- “work” frequency rank
- 37889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wok | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking. | Employment. |
Where the eye mixes wok and work
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wok vs work
A purely visual mix-up. wok (/wɒk/) and work (/wɜː(ɹ)k/) 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 37889, 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/. work is at rank #116, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɜː(ɹ)k/.
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 37889, this pair ranks #290,620 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wok vs work
Shared letters: kow. Private to "wok": -. Private to "work": r.
"wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- work ← owrk · wokr · workk · worrk · wrok · wwork
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wok" and "work" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "wok" or "work" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "wok" and "work" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wok" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "work" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #290,620 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wok" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wok 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 #290,620 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.