works vs worth, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“works” is a noun and “worth” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,411
“works” frequency rank: #30,865
“worth” frequency rank: 59276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	works	worth
Definition	Pluriel de work (« travail, œuvre »).	Valant (le prix, le coût ou la peine).

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

works

5 ch

worth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: works is \ˈwɝks\ while worth is \ˈwɝθ\. 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

works is recorded at frequency rank #28,411, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈwɝks\. 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 59276, this pair ranks #104,074 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of works vs worth

Shared letters: orw. Private to "works": ks. Private to "worth": ht.

"works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "worth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

works ← owrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks
worth ← owrth · worht · worrth · worthh · wortth · wotrh · wroth · wworth

Frequency comparison

works#28,411

worth#30,865

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "works" is a noun and "worth" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"works" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,411 in our French list, against #30,865 for "worth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering works vs worth

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “works”; for a preposition, it's “worth”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “works” entry
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