can anyone explain the difference?
Answers: They are both Home/Office Productivity Suites, but differ in content. Microsoft Office have Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Access and such. These programs hold more functionalities and version.
While Microsoft Works is smaller and cheaper publication of Microsoft Office. It have a Word Processor (just similar to MS Word), a spreadsheet (like MS Excel) and a database (MS Access counterpart). It also have Works Calendar.