The word “work” can be a verb or noun or even an adjective. This entry looks at “work” and “works” as nouns.
“Work” has several different meanings, but one of the most common is “exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labour; toil” [dictionary.com]. In this sense it is an uncountable noun and has no plural form.
E.g.:
We have a lot of work.
We will start the work as soon as we have received the signed Power of Attorney.
The work involved 17 hours of lawyer’s work and 5 hours of translator’s work.
I find people commonly make the mistake of using “works” in this context – especially in sentences like the second and third examples above.
“Works” has a different meaning. It is used to describe construction or engineering projects.
E.g.:
There are traffic jams all over the city due to the road works in the centre.
Works on the bridge were delayed by 4 weeks due to bad weather.
The Works were signed off 6 months after the Completion Date.
So you should never use “works” to describe the work you do when you’re sitting at a desk.
“Works” can also be used to mean an industrial plant, e.g. Over two hundred people are employed at the works. It may be used in combination with other words, e.g. “ironworks”, “steelworks”, “gasworks”. In this sense the word has no singular form. However, you may say, e.g. “one gasworks”.
“Earthworks” (uncountable) means excavation works in connection with a construction or engineering project. But an “earthwork” (countable) is a defensive fortification built into the ground, often of archaeological interest.
We also talk about e.g. “the works of a watch”, “the washing machine’s works” to describe a machine’s internal mechanism.
“Work” as a countable noun
“Work” is used as a countable noun when referring to works of art or literature.
E.g.:
A work of art.
Numerous new works of Picasso have been revealed by the artist’s electrician.
Pan Tadeusz by Mickiewicz is the most famous work of Polish literature.
Idioms with “works”
in the works – (informal) in preparation, e.g. Various amendments to the Act are in the works.
a spanner in the works – (informal) a problem, e.g. The appearance of new evidence has thrown a spanner in the works.
with the works – (slang) with the full range, with everything, e.g. Give me a hot dog with the works.
give somebody the works – (slang) beat somebody up, give somebody severe treatment, e.g. We took him out the back door of the bar and gave him the works.
работа, труд, произведение, дело, дела, работать, трудиться, действовать
существительное ↓
- работа, труд; дело; деятельность
- место работы; занятие; должность
at work — а) занятый на работе, особ. на постоянной; to be at work upon smth. 
father’s at work now — отец сейчас на работе
what time do you get to (your) work? — когда вы приходите на работу?
he is looking for work — он ищет работу
my work is in medicine — я работаю в области медицины /я по профессии медик/
- вид деятельности
agricultural work — сельскохозяйственные работы
construction work — строительные работы
field work — полевые работы
managerial work — управленческая работа
- результат труда; изделие, продукт
bad /faulty/ work — брак
the villagers sell their work to the tourists — жители деревни продают свои изделия туристам
- произведение, творение, создание; труд, сочинение
ещё 10 вариантов
глагол ↓
- работать, трудиться
to work like a horse /like a navvy, like a slave/ — ≅ работать как вол
to work at smth. — заниматься чем-л.; работать над чем-л.; изучать что-л.
to work at a question — разрабатывать вопрос
we have no data to work on — мы не можем работать, так как у нас нет исходных данных
- работать по найму; служить
he isn’t working now — он сейчас не работает (безработный или на пенсии)
he works in a factory — он работает на заводе /на фабрике/
they work for a farmer — они работают у фермера
- заставлять работать
to work smb. [oneself] to death — свести кого-л. [себя] в могилу непосильным трудом
to work one’s fingers to the bone — работать не покладая рук
she works her servants too hard — она совсем загоняла прислугу
- действовать, работать; быть в исправности
the pump will not work — насос не работает
the handle works freely — ручка поворачивается свободно
his heart is working badly — у него плохо работает сердце
- приводить в движение или в действие
to work a ship — управлять судном
to work a typewriter — печатать на машинке
machinery worked by electricity — машины, приводимые в движение электричеством
he worked his jaws — у него задвигались желваки на скулах
ещё 24 варианта
Мои примеры
Словосочетания
Примеры с переводом
I work here.
Я работаю здесь.
It won’t work.
Этот номер не пройдёт. / Так не получится.
He hates to work.
Он ненавидит работать.
The wine worked.
Вино подействовало (опьянило).
I work shifts.
Я работаю посменно.
I can’t get the heater to work.
Я не могу заставить нагреватель работать.
His plan didn’t work.
Его план не сработал.
ещё 23 примера свернуть
Примеры, ожидающие перевода
He plodded through his work. 
She slogged her way through her work.
He switches between TV and theatre work.
Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке ☰, напротив примера.
Фразовые глаголы
work away — продолжать работать
work in — соответствовать, прокладывать себе дорогу, проникать, вставлять, вводить
work off — отделаться от, отрабатывать, вымещать, освобождаться от, распродавать, сбывать
work on — обрабатывать, продолжать работать, влиять
work out — разработать, разрабатывать, вырабатывать, отрабатывать, решать, срабатывать
work over — перерабатывать, переделывать, избить
work up — обрабатывать, разрабатывать, завоевывать, добиваться, отделывать, взвинтить
Возможные однокоренные слова
overwork — переутомление, перегрузка, переутомляться, перерабатываться
underwork — работать недостаточно, подкапываться, недостаточно полно использовать
workable — реальный, выполнимый, осуществимый, рентабельный
worker — работник, рабочий, рабочий, трудовой
working — рабочий, работающий, действующий, работа, разработка, деятельность
rework — доработка, переделывать
workless — безработный
inwork — вставлять, вплетать, втирать
worked — обработанный, отделанный
Формы слова
verb
I/you/we/they: work
he/she/it: works
ing ф. (present participle): working
2-я ф. (past tense): worked
3-я ф. (past participle): worked
noun
ед. ч.(singular): work
мн. ч.(plural): works
Posted on October 14, 2021
Let’s have a look at a common mistake: the difference between work and works in English. The good news is that it will be quite easy for you to fix. Read on!
Verbs
So firstly we can work as a verb. We work, she works. OK. The verb form is easy and regular. If you can read this blog post you know this already.
Nouns
The confusion for many of our students comes later, when we use nouns. Is the noun “work” countable or uncountable? Well, it can be either countable or uncountable in different situations, and we hear this mistake regularly. Let’s look at when it’s “work” or “works” in English grammar.
Job: General business: Work as an uncountable noun
In an office, work is usually uncountable. We can have a lot of work or not much work. If you want to count one task, you could say “a piece of work”.
She finished all her work
There is so much work to do before the conference
What we can’t say in general business
You will see below why we can’t say in a general business sense:
She finished all the works
There are so many works to do before the conference
Job: Construction: Work or works as a noun
In construction, we can use the word “work” as a uncountable or a plural. Both of these sentences are fine:
We are carrying out some building works on the main road
We are carrying out some building work on the main road
Job: Art: Work or works as a noun
Similarly to construction, we can talk about art work or art works. You could say:
I really love the work of Picasso and
I really love the works of Picasso
These sentences are almost identical but work implies all of it, and works implies that you have some particular pieces in mind.
Comparing “work” and “works” for types of job
To return to our previous example sentences in the general business section:
“She finished all the works” is OK only if she is a construction worker or artist
Likewise,
“There are so many works to do before the conference” is OK only if there are so many works of art to do, or so many construction works to complete before the conference.
Conclusion
Now we know when it’s “work” or “works” in English grammar, so you can get back to work! Review countable and uncountable nouns with a great quiz here.
Further reading
Are you interested in learning English to work in a restaurant? Take a look at our blog post on English phrases for restaurant staff in London.
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The difference in using “work” or “works” will heavily impinge on whether you want to use either word as a noun or a verb. While all versions and variations will relate to some form of labor and effort, the –s at the end will make a huge difference. It will affect context, meaning, plurality, and idea conveyance.
This is going to require a solid command and understanding of what a noun is versus what a verb does in English sentence structure.
“Work” or “Works” as a Noun
As a noun, “work” or “works” refers to a body of effort or labor someone, a group of people or object put into something. You add the –s when you need to refer to “work” in the plural, which will need verb conjugation agreement.
- Singular: His work is near and dear to his heart.
- Plural: His works are near and dear to his heart.
- Singular: This entire body of work is a lifelong pursuit over the course of 20 years.
- Plural: These entire bodies of works are a lifelong pursuit over the course of 20 years.
“Work” or “Works” as a Verb
Of course, “work” and “works” can also be a verb; meaning they will describe the action performed by a subject or noun. But, the addition of the –s will depend on the conjugation.
- I, You, They, We – WORK
- He, She, It – WORKS
I work seven days a week.
We work at the factory down the street.
She works very hard at her job.
It works now that I fixed the stereo.
More Examples
Peruse the few examples below to see “work” and “works” as both a noun and a verb in the same sentence. This will help clarify the differences and their proper place in English sentence structure.
The works (noun) of Van Gogh work (verb) on the imagination of people to this day.
She works (verb) hard to create this beautiful body of work (noun).
Our works (noun) speak to how much we work (verb).
You work (verb) very little as evidenced by the lack of work (noun) available.
Conclusion
The difference between “work” and “works” will all depend on if you tend to use them as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it’s the product of labor or effort. As a verb, it’s the action of labor or effort.
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Conor is the main writer here at One Minute English and was an English teacher for 10 years. He is interested in helping people with their English skills and learning about using A.I tools at work.
For those interested in a little info about this site: it’s a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words. Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for — just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn’t be too much more work to get this up and running.
The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia. I initially started with WordNet, but then realised that it was missing many types of words/lemma (determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and many more). This caused me to investigate the 1913 edition of Websters Dictionary — which is now in the public domain. However, after a day’s work wrangling it into a database I realised that there were far too many errors (especially with the part-of-speech tagging) for it to be viable for Word Type.
Finally, I went back to Wiktionary — which I already knew about, but had been avoiding because it’s not properly structured for parsing. That’s when I stumbled across the UBY project — an amazing project which needs more recognition. The researchers have parsed the whole of Wiktionary and other sources, and compiled everything into a single unified resource. I simply extracted the Wiktionary entries and threw them into this interface! So it took a little more work than expected, but I’m happy I kept at it after the first couple of blunders.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: the UBY project (mentioned above), @mongodb and express.js.
Currently, this is based on a version of wiktionary which is a few years old. I plan to update it to a newer version soon and that update should bring in a bunch of new word senses for many words (or more accurately, lemma).