Which to use
“war” is a verb and “wok” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,153
- “war” frequency rank
- #41,603
- “wok” frequency rank
- 52756
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | war | wok |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du prétérit de sein. | Ustensile de cuisson de forme hémisphérique, comparable à, mais plus profond qu'une grande poêle. |
Where the eye mixes war and wok
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses war with wok
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: war is \vaːɐ\ while wok is \wɔk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
war is recorded at frequency rank #11,153, classified as averb, pronounced \vaːɐ\. wok is at rank #41,603, tagged as anoun, pronounced \wɔk\.
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 52756, this pair ranks #145,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of war vs wok
Shared letters: w. Private to "war": ar. Private to "wok": ko.
"war" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "war" for "wok" ever safe?
Frequency check: "war" vs "wok" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "war" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wok" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "war" and "wok" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wink vs wok". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #145,519 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.