Which to use
“won” is a verb and “wort” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #646
- “won” frequency rank
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- 34558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | won | wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of win | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. |
Where the eye mixes won and wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses won with wort
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: won is /wʌn/ while wort is /wɜːt/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
won is recorded at frequency rank #646, classified as averb, pronounced /wʌn/. 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 34558, this pair ranks #319,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of won vs wort
Shared letters: ow. Private to "won": n. Private to "wort": rt.
"won" · 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 "won" for "wort" ever safe?
Frequency check: "won" vs "wort" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "won" 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 #319,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "won" 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 #319,771 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.