Which to use
“woods” and “worms” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,511
- “woods” frequency rank
- #35,777
- “worms” frequency rank
- 52288
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | woods | worms |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bois. | Pluriel de worm. |
Where the eye mixes woods and worms
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. woods (CVVCC) and worms (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: woods vs worms
A purely visual mix-up. woods (\wʊdz\) and worms (\wɜːms\) 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 52288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
woods is recorded at frequency rank #16,511, classified as anoun, pronounced \wʊdz\. worms is at rank #35,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \wɜːms\.
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 52288, this pair ranks #148,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of woods vs worms
Shared letters: osw. Private to "woods": d. Private to "worms": mr.
"woods" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "worms" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "woods" and "worms" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "woods" or "worms" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "woods" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "woods" and "worms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "worlds vs worms". 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 #148,762 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.