Which to use
“worm” and “worry” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,620
- “worm” frequency rank
- #38,960
- “worry” frequency rank
- 85580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | worm | worry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | minhoca, verme | preocupação |
Where the eye mixes worm and worry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses worm with worry
A purely visual mix-up. worm (/wɝm/) and worry (/ˈwɜːri/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
worm is recorded at frequency rank #46,620, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɝm/. worry is at rank #38,960, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɜːri/.
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 85580, this pair ranks #678 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of worm vs worry
Shared letters: orw. Private to "worm": m. Private to "worry": y.
"worm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "worry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "worm" and "worry" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "worm" vs "worry" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "worm" and "worry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "worm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "worry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #678 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "worm" and "worry" 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 #678 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.