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'Injury' is physical damage, especially from an accident; 'wound' is an open cut or damage caused by violence.
Side-by-side comparison
"Injury" is the general term for any physical damage to the body: fractures, sprains, bruises, or cuts. "A sports injury" = physical damage from playing sport.
The player suffered a knee injury during the match.
He was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after the crash.
Stretching before exercise can prevent injuries.
"Wound" is an open cut or damage to skin or tissue, usually caused by something sharp, a bullet, or violence. It implies cutting or piercing, not just impact.
The soldier received a bullet wound in his shoulder.
She cleaned and bandaged the wound carefully.
The knife wound required twelve stitches.
Common mistake
- •"He got a wound playing soccer" sounds odd: sports damage is an "injury".
- •"Wound" implies something that cuts or pierces, usually from violence or a weapon.
- •When in doubt, use "injury": it is never wrong.
Trick to remember it
- •"Injury" = any physical damage (safe word for any harm).
- •"Wound" = open damage from something sharp or violent.
- •Only use "wound" when there is a cut, bullet, or weapon.
Quick rule
- •"Injury" = damage in general (accident, sport).
- •"Wound" = open damage from violence or a weapon.
Did you know?
The adjectives "injured" and "wounded" follow exactly the same distinction as the nouns. In war reports and military contexts, casualties are "wounded in action", never "injured in action." In sports and traffic accident reports, people are "injured", never "wounded." This distinction is applied so consistently in journalistic English that any violation of the pattern sounds immediately odd to an English-speaking reader. "To wound someone's pride" or "wounded feelings" is the metaphorical use of "wound" as a verb, where the metaphor of penetrating emotional damage works perfectly because it mirrors the nature of a physical wound that pierces deep.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
He suffered a serious knee _____ during the football match.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The soldier received a bullet _____ in his shoulder.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
Both mean to cause damage, but one focuses on immediate physical or emotional pain, and the other on damage or injury in a broader sense.
'Miss' means to fail to catch, hit or attend something; 'lose' means to no longer have something, or to be defeated.
"Above" is at a higher level without contact; "over" implies covering, movement, or crossing.
'Currently' means 'at the present time'; 'actually' means 'in reality', not 'nowadays'.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy