Which to use
“dark” is an adjective and “day” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #966
- “dark” frequency rank
- #120
- “day” frequency rank
- 1086
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dark | day |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. | The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky. |
Where the eye mixes dark and day
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dark vs day
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dark is /dɑːk/ while day is /deɪ̯/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dark is recorded at frequency rank #966, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɑːk/. day is at rank #120, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪ̯/.
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 1086, this pair ranks #528,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dark vs day
Shared letters: ad. Private to "dark": kr. Private to "day": y.
"dark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "day" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dark ← adrk · dakr · darkk · darrk · ddark · drak
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dark" for "day" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "dark" or "day" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "day" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #528,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dark" and "day" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "day vs dox". 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 #528,135 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.