Which to use
“dent” and “donut” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,678
- “dent” frequency rank
- #19,318
- “donut” frequency rank
- 30996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dent | donut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact. | Alternative spelling of doughnut. |
Where the eye mixes dent and donut
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dent runs 4 letters (CVCC) against donut's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dent with donut
A purely visual mix-up. dent (/dɛnt/) and donut (/ˈdəʊnʌt/) 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 30996, 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/. donut is at rank #19,318, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdəʊnʌt/.
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 30996, this pair ranks #349,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dent vs donut
Shared letters: dnt. Private to "dent": e. Private to "donut": ou.
"dent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "donut" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dent" for "donut" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dent" or "donut"?
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 "dent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dent" and "donut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donut vs dour". 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 #349,924 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.