Which to use
“work” is a noun and “worth” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,297
- “work” frequency rank
- #30,865
- “worth” frequency rank
- 44162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | work | worth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Travail. | Valant (le prix, le coût ou la peine). |
Where the eye mixes work and worth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses work with worth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: work is \ˈwɝk\ while worth is \ˈwɝθ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
work is recorded at frequency rank #13,297, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈwɝk\. worth is at rank #30,865, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ˈwɝθ\.
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 44162, this pair ranks #212,568 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of work vs worth
Shared letters: orw. Private to "work": k. Private to "worth": ht.
"work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "worth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "work" and "worth" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "work" or "worth"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "work" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,568 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "work" and "worth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "worms vs worth". 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 #212,568 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.