Which to use
“deft” is an adjective and “depth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,012
- “deft” frequency rank
- #2,725
- “depth” frequency rank
- 36737
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deft | depth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quick and neat in action; skillful. | the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep |
Where the eye mixes deft and depth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses deft with depth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deft is /dɛft/ while depth is /dɛpθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deft is recorded at frequency rank #34,012, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɛft/. depth is at rank #2,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛpθ/.
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 36737, this pair ranks #300,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deft vs depth
Shared letters: det. Private to "deft": f. Private to "depth": hp.
"deft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "depth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "deft" and "depth" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "deft" or "depth"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "deft" and "depth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "deft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deft" and "depth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deft vs derp". 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 #300,590 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.