wok vs works, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,603
“wok” frequency rank: #28,411
“works” frequency rank: 70014
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	wok	works
Definition	Ustensile de cuisson de forme hémisphérique, comparable à, mais plus profond qu'une grande poêle.	Pluriel de work (« travail, œuvre »).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wok and works apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

wok

5 ch

works

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wok (\wɔk\) and works (\ˈwɝks\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wok is recorded at frequency rank #41,603, classified as anoun, pronounced \wɔk\. works is at rank #28,411, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈwɝks\.

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 70014, this pair ranks #52,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wok vs works

Shared letters: kow. Private to "wok": -. Private to "works": rs.

"wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

works ← owrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks

Frequency comparison

wok#41,603

works#28,411

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wok" and "works" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\wɔk\ versus \ˈwɝks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "wok" or "works"?

"works" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,411 in our French list, against #41,603 for "wok". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wok vs works

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wok” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable