Which to use
“worry” is a verb and “wry” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,548
- “worry” frequency rank
- #34,751
- “wry” frequency rank
- 36299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | worry | wry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt. | Turned away, contorted (of the face or body). |
Where the eye mixes worry and wry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: worry is /ˈwʌ.ɹi/ while wry is /ɹaɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
worry is recorded at frequency rank #1,548, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwʌ.ɹi/. wry is at rank #34,751, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹaɪ/.
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 36299, this pair ranks #304,312 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of worry vs wry
Shared letters: rwy. Private to "worry": o. Private to "wry": -.
"worry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "wry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- worry ← owrry · worryy · wory · woryr · wrory · wworry