Which to use
“wor” is a determiner and “work” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,016
- “wor” frequency rank
- #116
- “work” frequency rank
- 36132
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wor | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Our. | Employment. |
Where the eye mixes wor and work
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wor and work
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wor is /wɔː/ while work is /wɜː(ɹ)k/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wor” sits inside “work”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wor is recorded at frequency rank #36,016, classified as adet, pronounced /wɔː/. 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 36132, this pair ranks #305,892 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wor vs work
Shared letters: orw. Private to "wor": -. Private to "work": k.
"wor" · 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 "wor" and "work" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wor" vs "work" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wor" 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 #305,892 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wor" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wor 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 #305,892 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.