Work = force *displacement. Can displacement be replaced with distance??? if yes, how and if no, why???

Displacement can be replaced by distance only when the motion is linear just along one direction which is the direction of the force. For any other case always use displacement as it is the vector quantity and its direction with respect to the force applied is used in the dot product F.d
Thanks and Regards
Ashish Kumar
askIITians Faculty
IIT Roorkee

It is completely true. You cannot replace displacement with distance. It can only happen when the object is moving in a straight line. Take an example of circular motion. The circumference of circle is 200metre.the body starts its journey from point A and returns back to point A. Distance is 200metre but displacement is 0. Work is only done when displacement is not zero.