Which to use
“wore” and “worked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,422
- “wore” frequency rank
- #725
- “worked” frequency rank
- 5147
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wore | worked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of wear | simple past and past participle of work |
Where the eye mixes wore and worked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wore runs 4 letters (CVCV) against worked's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wore and worked
A purely visual mix-up. wore (/wɔː/) and worked (/wɜːkt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wore is recorded at frequency rank #4,422, classified as averb, pronounced /wɔː/. worked is at rank #725, tagged as averb, pronounced /wɜːkt/.
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 5147, this pair ranks #516,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wore vs worked
Shared letters: eorw. Private to "wore": -. Private to "worked": dk.
"wore" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "worked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wore" and "worked" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "wore" or "worked" show up more?
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 "wore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wore" and "worked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wore 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 #516,418 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.