Which to use
“dent” and “depth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,678
- “dent” frequency rank
- #2,725
- “depth” frequency rank
- 14403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dent | depth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact. | the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep |
Where the eye mixes dent and depth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dent with depth
A purely visual mix-up. dent (/dɛnt/) and depth (/dɛpθ/) 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 14403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dent is recorded at frequency rank #11,678, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛnt/. 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 14403, this pair ranks #470,251 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dent vs depth
Shared letters: det. Private to "dent": n. Private to "depth": hp.
"dent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "depth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dent" for "depth" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dent" vs "depth" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dent" and "depth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dent" 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 #470,251 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dent" and "depth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dent vs DNP". 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 #470,251 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.