Which to use
“wax” and “wok” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,557
- “wax” frequency rank
- #41,603
- “wok” frequency rank
- 82160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wax | wok |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tissu en vogue en Afrique, dont les motifs sont réalisés avec des cires hydrophobes. | Ustensile de cuisson de forme hémisphérique, comparable à, mais plus profond qu'une grande poêle. |
Where the eye mixes wax and wok
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. wax and wok follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wax and wok
A purely visual mix-up. wax (\waks\) and wok (\wɔk\) 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 82160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wax is recorded at frequency rank #40,557, classified as anoun, pronounced \waks\. 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 82160, this pair ranks #17,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wax vs wok
Shared letters: w. Private to "wax": ax. Private to "wok": ko.
"wax" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wax" for "wok" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wax" vs "wok" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wax" and "wok" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wax" 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 #17,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wax" and "wok" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wax vs wrap". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #17,288 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.