Work - wreak

The two verbs 'to work' and 'to wreak are sometimes confused, particularly in the set phrase 'to wreak havoc'. This is something of a cliché, but remains of value in writing.

• The verb 'to wreak' means, loosely, 'to cause [something harmful]', 'to inflict,[damage] upon'. The other set phrase sometimes to be seen is to wreak vengeance on`, 'to inflict retaliatory harm upon'. In neither of these phrases is the verb 'to work' an acceptable substitute for wreak.
  • Beware also the typing error 'wreck'.
• A subsidiary problem is that the part tense form wrought, which is properly the past tense of 'to work', has been adopted - wrongly - by some writers as a past tense form of 'to wreak', which it is not. (It seems that some writers, having chosen to replace 'wreak' by 'work' in 'to w***k havoc', have also used the past form of work instead of that of wreak, which is wreaked.)

You are advised not to write 'work havoc on', nor 'wrought havoc on'.

(See also AWE's pages on the usage of, and distinction between, work and wreak; the forms of the irregular verb 'to wreak'; the meaning of wrought, and current academic usage; and the homophones reek and wreak, with some possible typographical errors.