The Difference between War and Wore

Can you spot the difference between war and wore? I bet you can’t why you pronounce them. How about when you write these words? You sure can! Yes, you can because they have different spelling.

In English, finding the difference between the words war and wore can be tricky. This is because they have the same pronunciation. These sets of words are the best examples of English homophones. Homophones are words that have different spelling but the same pronunciation. Generally speaking, homophones are kinds of homonyms.

Perhaps, even native English speakers will not recognize the difference when someone orally says “Make Love not wore” and “Make love not war.” Right? Clearly, war and wore got no difference in spoken English. However, war and wore are two words that have different spelling, use, and different meaning.

This time, let us learn and find out the difference between these words.

What is war?

Although war and wore may sound the same, these two words belong to different parts of speech. Grammatically, war is a noun whereas wore is a verb. War means a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. A famous war that we are all familiar with is World War II. Moreover, we can also use it in phrases like a war of words (debate/ argument), price war (company vs company), tug of war (a kind of sport).

For example:

The Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945.

The debaters had an exciting war of words during the debate championship yesterday.

The major supermarkets are involved in a price war.

Th played the tug of war during their team building activity last week.

What is wore?

Despite being similar-sounding, war and wore are different because the first is a noun while the latter is a verb. Wore is simply the past form of wear. You might notice that we do not add -ed at the end to make its past form. This is because the verb wear is an irregular verb. In English, the spelling of an Irregular verb changes when it takes its past form. So, wear becomes wore.

For example:

I wore a beautiful red dress for our company party last year.

She wore a knitted scarf around her neck during her trip to Alaska.

The bank robbers wore masks throughout the raid.

Conclusion

While war and wore may sound the same, learning how to use them correctly is important as English speakers. These homophones are tricky to learn, but remembering them makes learning English more exciting. In conclusion, let us not forget their differences and their meanings.

War means a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.

Wore is simply the past form of wear. This means to have clothing, jewelry, or such on your body.