Which to use
“world” and “wort” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #136
- “world” frequency rank
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- 34048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | world | wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in. | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. |
Where the eye mixes world and wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses world with wort
A purely visual mix-up. world (/wɜːld/) and wort (/wɜːt/) 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 34048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
world is recorded at frequency rank #136, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜːld/. wort is at rank #33,912, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɜːt/.
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 34048, this pair ranks #324,107 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of world vs wort
Shared letters: orw. Private to "world": dl. Private to "wort": t.
"world" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "world" for "wort" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "world" or "wort" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "world" and "wort" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "world" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wort" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,107 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "world" and "wort" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wort 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 #324,107 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.