Play
Play noun - Activity engaged in to amuse oneself.
Usage example: it's such a delight to watch the children in their play
Work
Work verb - To devote serious and sustained effort.
Usage example: the organization has worked for years to raise people's awareness of human rights issues
How words are described
| good | good play | good work |
| normal | normal play | normal work |
| short | short play | short work |
| regular | regular play | regular work |
| Other adjectives: original, single, popular, actual, entire, real, great, serious, little, famous, new, early, final, fictional, next, last, recent, earlier, previous. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
-
Vincent starts out as a Lazy Bum who doesn't really play or work as much as he should, but he can choose either woman by the end--or neither, and pursue his own dreams.
Source: All Work vs. All Play -
Language Equals Thought: Pravic, the constructed language used on Anarres, is designed so as not to include any distinction between work and play (although there is a distinction between 'work I enjoy' and 'work I dislike').
Source: Literature / The Dispossessed -
On a different scale, Haruo begins taking both work and play much more seriously after Akira's butler implores him to become her pillar of support.
Source: Manga / High Score Girl
Cite this Source
Work and Play. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/work
Play & Work. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/work>.
Work or Play. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/work.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "play" and "work" have occurred on timeline