donevsDonutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: done is a verb, Donut is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“done” is a verb and “Donut” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,888
“done” frequency rank
#41,112
“Donut” frequency rank
62000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature done Donut
Definition Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs do ein süßes Gebäck in Form eines Ringes, der in heißem Fett ausgebacken wird

Where the eye mixes done and Donut

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

4 ch
done
5 ch
Donut

Look-alike desk: done vs Donut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: done is [dʌn] while Donut is [ˈdɔʊ̯nat]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

done is recorded at frequency rank #20,888, classified as averb, pronounced [dʌn]. Donut is at rank #41,112, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɔʊ̯nat].

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 62000, this pair ranks #728,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of done vs Donut

Shared letters: dno. Private to "done": e. Private to "Donut": tu.

"done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Donut" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doneddone · dnoe · doen · donne · odne
  • Donutddonut · dnout · donnut · dontu · donutt · dount · odnut

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "done" and "Donut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "done" is a verb and "Donut" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "done" or "Donut"?
"done" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,888 in our German list, against #41,112 for "Donut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "done" and "Donut" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "done" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Donut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #728,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "done" and "Donut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dona vs Donut". 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 #728,914 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