Which to use
“ward” and “work” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,992
- “ward” frequency rank
- #14,739
- “work” frequency rank
- 30731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ward | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Guarda, escolta, vigilante, centinela. | Trabajo. |
Where the eye mixes ward and work
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ward with work
A purely visual mix-up. ward (/wɔːd/) and work (/wɜːk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ward is recorded at frequency rank #15,992, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɔːd/. work is at rank #14,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɜːk/.
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 30731, this pair ranks #210,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ward vs work
Shared letters: rw. Private to "ward": ad. Private to "work": ko.
"ward" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ward" for "work" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ward" or "work"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ward" and "work" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ward" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "work" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ward" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waka vs ward". 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 #210,567 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.