Which to use
“wo” is an adverb and “work” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,341
- “wo” frequency rank
- #6,253
- “work” frequency rank
- 27594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wo | work |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | onde | trabalho |
Letter map: wo vs work
Shared letters muted; letters that set wo and work apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: wo vs work
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wo is anadverb and workanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wo” sits inside “work”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wo is recorded at frequency rank #21,341, classified as anadv, pronounced /voː/. work is at rank #6,253, tagged as anoun.
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 27594, this pair ranks #41,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wo vs work
Shared letters: ow. Private to "wo": -. Private to "work": kr.
"wo" · 2 letters · shape CV · "work" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- work ← owrk · wokr · workk · worrk · wrok · wwork
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wo" for "work" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wo" vs "work" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "wo" and "work".
- Full dictionary entry for "wo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "work" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wo" and "work" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wo vs worm". 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 #41,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.