woldvswordyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wold is a noun, wordy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wold” is a noun and “wordy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,997
“wold” frequency rank
#49,727
“wordy” frequency rank
92724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wold wordy
Definition An unforested or deforested plain, a grassland, a moor. Using an excessive number of words.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wold and wordy apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
wold
5 ch
wordy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wold is /wəʊld/ while wordy is /ˈwɝdi/. 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 92724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wold is recorded at frequency rank #42,997, classified as anoun, pronounced /wəʊld/. wordy is at rank #49,727, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɝdi/.

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 92724, this pair ranks #2,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wold vs wordy

Shared letters: dow. Private to "wold": l. Private to "wordy": ry.

"wold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wordy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • woldowld · wlod · wodl · woldd · wolld · wwold
  • wordyowrdy · wodry · worddy · wordyy · worrdy · woryd · wrody · wwordy

Frequency comparison

wold#42,997
wordy#49,727

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wold" and "wordy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wold" is a noun and "wordy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wold" or "wordy"?
"wold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,997 in our English list, against #49,727 for "wordy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wold vs wordy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “wold”; for an adjective, it's “wordy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wold” 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