Which to use
“den” is a noun and “do” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,004
- “den” frequency rank
- #50
- “do” frequency rank
- 7054
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | den | do |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment. | A syntactic marker. |
Where the eye mixes den and do
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: den vs do
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: den is /dɛn/ while do is /də/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
den is recorded at frequency rank #7,004, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛn/. do is at rank #50, tagged as averb, pronounced /də/.
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 7054, this pair ranks #508,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of den vs do
Shared letters: d. Private to "den": en. Private to "do": o.
"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "do" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "den" for "do" ever safe?
Frequency check: "den" vs "do" - 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 "den" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "do" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #508,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "den" and "do" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "den vs dox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #508,787 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.