WolfvswormTell them apart

Which to use

“Wolf” and “worm” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,562
“Wolf” frequency rank
#46,620
“worm” frequency rank
55182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wolf worm
Definition lobo (mamífero carnívoro) minhoca, verme

Where the eye mixes Wolf and worm

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Wolf
4 ch
worm

Why the eye confuses Wolf with worm

A purely visual mix-up. Wolf (/vɔlf/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?)) and worm (/wɝm/) 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 55182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wolf is recorded at frequency rank #8,562, classified as anoun, pronounced /vɔlf/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?). worm is at rank #46,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɝm/.

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 55182, this pair ranks #10,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Wolf vs worm

Shared letters: ow. Private to "Wolf": fl. Private to "worm": mr.

"Wolf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "worm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wolfowlf · wlof · wofl · wolff · wollf · wwolf
  • wormowrm · womr · wormm · worrm · wrom · wworm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wolf" for "worm" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/vɔlf/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /wɝm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Wolf" vs "worm" - which ranks higher?
"Wolf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,562 in our Portuguese list, against #46,620 for "worm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wolf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "worm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wolf" and "worm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wir 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 #10,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list