workplacevsworkspaceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“workplace” and “workspace” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,753
“workplace” frequency rank
#35,162
“workspace” frequency rank
41915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature workplace workspace
Definition The place where someone works. An area allocated for someone to work in, especially in an office.

Where the eye mixes workplace and workspace

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
workplace
9 ch
workspace

Why the eye confuses workplace with workspace

A purely visual mix-up. workplace (/ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/) and workspace (/ˈwɝkˌspeɪs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

workplace is recorded at frequency rank #6,753, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/. workspace is at rank #35,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɝkˌspeɪs/.

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 41915, this pair ranks #253,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of workplace vs workspace

Shared letters: acekoprw. Private to "workplace": l. Private to "workspace": s.

"workplace" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVCV  ·  "workspace" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • workplaceowrkplace · wokrplace · workkplace · worklpace · workpalce · workplacce · workplaec · workplcae
  • workspaceowrkspace · wokrspace · workkspace · workpsace · worksapce · workspacce · workspaec · workspcae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "workplace" and "workspace" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/ versus /ˈwɝkˌspeɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "workplace" or "workspace" show up more?
"workplace" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,753 in our English list, against #35,162 for "workspace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "workplace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "workspace" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "workplace" and "workspace" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "workpiece vs workplace". 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 #253,982 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list