Which to use
“dated” is an adjective and “donated” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,362
- “dated” frequency rank
- #6,463
- “donated” frequency rank
- 10825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dated | donated |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marked with a date. | simple past and past participle of donate |
Where the eye mixes dated and donated
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dated with donated
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dated is /ˈdeɪtɪd/ while donated is /dəʊˈneɪtɪd/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dated is recorded at frequency rank #4,362, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdeɪtɪd/. donated is at rank #6,463, tagged as averb, pronounced /dəʊˈneɪtɪd/.
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 10825, this pair ranks #490,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dated vs donated
Shared letters: adet. Private to "dated": -. Private to "donated": no.
"dated" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "donated" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dated" and "donated" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dated" or "donated"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dated" and "donated" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #490,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dated" and "donated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "darted vs dated". 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 #490,330 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.