dancevsdoneTell them apart

Which to use

“dance” and “done” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,780
“dance” frequency rank
#20,888
“done” frequency rank
27668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dance done
Definition tanzen Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs do

Where the eye mixes dance and done

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dance
4 ch
done

Look-alike desk: dance vs done

A purely visual mix-up. dance ([dɑːns]) and done ([dʌn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dance is recorded at frequency rank #6,780, classified as averb, pronounced [dɑːns]. done is at rank #20,888, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʌn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 27668, this pair ranks #1,797,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dance vs done

Shared letters: den. Private to "dance": ac. Private to "done": o.

"dance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • danceadnce · dacne · dancce · danec · dannce · ddance · dnace
  • doneddone · dnoe · doen · donne · odne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dance" and "done" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɑːns] versus [dʌn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dance" vs "done" - which ranks higher?
"dance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,780 in our German list, against #20,888 for "done". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "done" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,797,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dance" and "done" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "done vs dörr". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,797,938 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list