Work versus Job

Work and Job are two words that are often confused. Let’s look at some of the differences.

First of all, work can be used as either a noun or a verb, but job can only be used as a noun. For example:

I work in an office.  (verb)

My work is interesting. (noun)

My job pays well. (noun)

As nouns, another difference is that job is countable and work is uncountable, which means you can’t use a, an or a number before work, and work is never plural. For example:

To pay the rent, I have two jobs, as an actor and a waiter.

I have an interesting job.

I do interesting work.

Finally, although they can be used interchangeably, there are some subtle differences in the usage of these nouns. We usually use work…

when we talk in general: I have a lot of work.

Or when talking about the (work)place: I go to work by car.

We usually use job…

when we talk about tasks[1] or projects: I have a few jobs to finish before going home.

Or when talking about the position[2]: My job includes answering correspondence.

Are you able to work all this out[3]?!

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[1] tareas, [2] puesto, [3] resolver