Which to use
“words” is a noun and “wordy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #566
- “words” frequency rank
- #49,727
- “wordy” frequency rank
- 50293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | words | wordy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of word | Using an excessive number of words. |
Where the eye mixes words and wordy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: words is /wɜːdz/ while wordy is /ˈwɝdi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “words” becomes y in “wordy”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
words is recorded at frequency rank #566, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜːdz/. 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 50293, this pair ranks #175,620 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of words vs wordy
Shared letters: dorw. Private to "words": s. Private to "wordy": y.
"words" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "wordy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV