wordsvsworksConfusable pair

Which to use

“words” and “works” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,276
“words” frequency rank
#31,602
“works” frequency rank
54878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature words works
Definition Forma del plural de word. Mecanismo.

Where the eye mixes words and works

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. words and works follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
words
5 ch
works

Why the eye confuses words with works

A purely visual mix-up. words (/wɜːdz/) and works (/wɝks/) 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 a single letter - d in “words” becomes k in “works”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

words is recorded at frequency rank #23,276, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɜːdz/. works is at rank #31,602, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɝks/.

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 54878, this pair ranks #81,388 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of words vs works

Shared letters: orsw. Private to "words": d. Private to "works": k.

"words" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • words ← owrds · wodrs · wordds · wordss · worrds · worsd · wrods · wwords
  • works ← owrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "words" and "works" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/wɜːdz/ versus /wɝks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "words" or "works" show up more?
"words" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,276 in our Spanish list, against #31,602 for "works". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "words" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "works" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,388 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "words" and "works" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "works vs worry". 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 #81,388 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list