Which to use
“darted” is a verb and “date” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,174
- “darted” frequency rank
- #605
- “date” frequency rank
- 48779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | darted | date |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of dart | The fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft, sweet pulp and enclosing a hard kernel. |
Where the eye mixes darted and date
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses darted with date
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: darted is /ˈdɑɹtɪd/ while date is /deɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 48779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
darted is recorded at frequency rank #48,174, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɑɹtɪd/. date is at rank #605, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪt/.
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 48779, this pair ranks #189,844 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of darted vs date
Shared letters: adet. Private to "darted": r. Private to "date": -.
"darted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "darted" and "date" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "darted" vs "date" - 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 "darted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "date" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,844 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "darted" and "date" 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 #189,844 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.