Which to use
“darken” and “darned” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,602
- “darken” frequency rank
- #45,316
- “darned” frequency rank
- 78918
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | darken | darned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make dark or darker by reducing light. | simple past and past participle of darn |
Where the eye mixes darken and darned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: darken vs darned
A purely visual mix-up. darken (/ˈdɑɹkən/) and darned (/dɑːnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78918, 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/. darned is at rank #45,316, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɑːnd/.
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 78918, this pair ranks #23,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of darken vs darned
Shared letters: adenr. Private to "darken": k. Private to "darned": -.
"darken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "darned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "darken" for "darned" ever safe?
Frequency check: "darken" vs "darned" - which ranks higher?
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 "darken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "darned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "darken" and "darned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "darned vs darted". 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 #23,430 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.