worksvsworldsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#522
“works” frequency rank
#4,910
“worlds” frequency rank
5432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature works worlds
Definition plural of work in its countable senses plural of world

Where the eye mixes works and worlds

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
works
6 ch
worlds

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. works (/wɜːks/) and worlds (/wɝldz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

works is recorded at frequency rank #522, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜːks/. worlds is at rank #4,910, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɝldz/.

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 5432, this pair ranks #515,350 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of works vs worlds

Shared letters: orsw. Private to "works": k. Private to "worlds": dl.

"works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "worlds" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • worksowrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks
  • worldsowrlds · wolrds · wordls · worldds · worldss · worllds · worlsd · worrlds

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "works" and "worlds" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/wɜːks/ versus /wɝldz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "works" or "worlds"?
"works" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #522 in our English list, against #4,910 for "worlds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list