Which to use
“wort” is a noun and “worth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,912
- “wort” frequency rank
- #726
- “worth” frequency rank
- 34638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wort | worth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine. | Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for. |
Where the eye mixes wort and worth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wort runs 4 letters (CVCC) against worth's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wort and worth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wort is /wɜːt/ while worth is /wɜːθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wort” sits inside “worth”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wort is recorded at frequency rank #33,912, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜːt/. worth is at rank #726, tagged as anadj, pronounced /wɜːθ/.
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 34638, this pair ranks #319,035 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wort vs worth
Shared letters: ortw. Private to "wort": -. Private to "worth": h.
"wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "worth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wort" and "worth" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "wort" or "worth"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,035 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wort" and "worth" 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 #319,035 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.