worvsworthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wor is a determiner, worth is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wor” is a determiner and “worth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,016
“wor” frequency rank
#726
“worth” frequency rank
36742
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wor worth
Definition Our. Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
wor
5 ch
worth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wor is /wɔː/ while worth is /wɜːθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wor” sits inside “worth”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36742, 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/. worth is at rank #726, tagged as anadj, pronounced /wɜːθ/.

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 36742, this pair ranks #300,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wor vs worth

Shared letters: orw. Private to "wor": -. Private to "worth": ht.

"wor" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "worth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • worthowrth · worht · worrth · worthh · wortth · wotrh · wroth · wworth

Frequency comparison

wor#36,016
worth#726

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wor" and "worth" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wor" is a determiner and "worth" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wor" or "worth"?
"worth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #726 in our English list, against #36,016 for "wor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wor vs worth

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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