Which to use
“darken” and “darkened” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,602
- “darken” frequency rank
- #24,420
- “darkened” frequency rank
- 58022
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | darken | darkened |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make dark or darker by reducing light. | simple past and past participle of darken |
Where the eye mixes darken and darkened
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. darken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against darkened's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses darken with darkened
A purely visual mix-up. darken (/ˈdɑɹkən/) and darkened (/ˈdɑɹkənd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “darken” sits inside “darkened”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
darken is recorded at frequency rank #33,602, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɑɹkən/. darkened is at rank #24,420, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdɑɹkənd/.
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 58022, this pair ranks #115,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of darken vs darkened
Shared letters: adeknr. Private to "darken": -. Private to "darkened": -.
"darken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "darkened" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "darken" and "darkened" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "darken" vs "darkened" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "darken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "darkened" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "darken" and "darkened" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "darken vs Darrin". 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 #115,371 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.