doivsdoneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,427
“doi” frequency rank
#20,888
“done” frequency rank
63315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doi done
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs doić Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs do

Where the eye mixes doi and done

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. doi runs 3 letters (CVV) against done's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
doi
4 ch
done

Why the eye confuses doi with done

A purely visual mix-up. doi ([ˈdɔji]) 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 63315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doi is recorded at frequency rank #42,427, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɔji]. 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 63315, this pair ranks #681,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doi vs done

Shared letters: do. Private to "doi": i. Private to "done": en.

"doi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • done ← ddone · dnoe · doen · donne · odne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "doi" for "done" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɔji] versus [dʌn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "doi" vs "done" - which ranks higher?
"done" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,888 in our German list, against #42,427 for "doi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "doi" 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 #681,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doi" and "done" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doi 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 #681,125 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