worn
/wɔːn/
"worn" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“worn” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,644 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #4,644
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Damaged and shabby as a result of much use.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | worn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /wɔːn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,644 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “worn” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for worn is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɔːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,644 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for worn, with forms such as "owrn", "wonr", and "wornn". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wow", "wot", "wry", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: By analogy to past participles like torn from tear and sworn from swear. The correct English form is worn, spelled W-O-R-N.
Definition
- 1Damaged and shabby as a result of much use.
- 2Worn out; exhausted.
Etymology
By analogy to past participles like torn from tear and sworn from swear.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: owrn,wonr,wornn,worrn,wron,wworn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of worn - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “worn”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-O-R-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɔːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wow” - see the side-by-side comparison. worn vs wow
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.