Which to use
“deepen” and “depend” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,639
- “deepen” frequency rank
- #5,119
- “depend” frequency rank
- 27758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deepen | depend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make deep or deeper | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
Where the eye mixes deepen and depend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses deepen with depend
A purely visual mix-up. deepen (/ˈdiːpən/) and depend (/dɪˈpɛnd/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deepen is recorded at frequency rank #22,639, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdiːpən/. depend is at rank #5,119, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɛnd/.
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 27758, this pair ranks #376,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deepen vs depend
Shared letters: denp. Private to "deepen": -. Private to "depend": -.
"deepen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deepen" and "depend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "deepen" or "depend"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deepen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,338 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deepen" and "depend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dampen vs deepen". 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 #376,338 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.