Which to use
“ward” is a verb and “work” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,716
- “ward” frequency rank
- #13,297
- “work” frequency rank
- 27013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ward | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du prétérit de l’indicatif à la forme active de werden. | Travail. |
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
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ward is \vaʁt\ while work is \ˈwɝk\. 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 27013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ward is recorded at frequency rank #13,716, classified as averb, pronounced \vaʁt\. work is at rank #13,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈwɝk\.
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 27013, this pair ranks #331,538 of 440,172 scored French 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 #331,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ward" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wahl 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 #331,538 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.