Which to use
“dealt” and “depart” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,115
- “dealt” frequency rank
- #11,679
- “depart” frequency rank
- 16794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dealt | depart |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of deal | To leave. |
Where the eye mixes dealt and depart
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dealt with depart
A purely visual mix-up. dealt (/ˈdɛlt/) and depart (/dɪˈpɑːt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dealt is recorded at frequency rank #5,115, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛlt/. depart is at rank #11,679, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɑːt/.
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 16794, this pair ranks #455,537 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dealt vs depart
Shared letters: adet. Private to "dealt": l. Private to "depart": pr.
"dealt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "depart" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dealt" and "depart" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "dealt" or "depart" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dealt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depart" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #455,537 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dealt" and "depart" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depart vs DePaul". 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 #455,537 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.