Which to use
“work” is a noun and “worry” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #116
- “work” frequency rank
- #1,548
- “worry” frequency rank
- 1664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | work | worry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Employment. | To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt. |
Where the eye mixes work and worry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses work with worry
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: work is /wɜː(ɹ)k/ while worry is /ˈwʌ.ɹi/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
work is recorded at frequency rank #116, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜː(ɹ)k/. worry is at rank #1,548, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwʌ.ɹi/.
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 1664, this pair ranks #526,950 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of work vs worry
Shared letters: orw. Private to "work": k. Private to "worry": y.
"work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "worry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "work" and "worry" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "work" vs "worry" - 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 "work" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #526,950 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "work" and "worry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wordy vs worry". 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 #526,950 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.