Which to use
“dent” and “dun” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,678
- “dent” frequency rank
- #18,810
- “dun” frequency rank
- 30488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dent | dun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact. | A brownish grey colour. |
Where the eye mixes dent and dun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. dent (/dɛnt/) and dun (/dʌn/) 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 30488, 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/. dun is at rank #18,810, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌn/.
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 30488, this pair ranks #354,149 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dent vs dun
Shared letters: dn. Private to "dent": et. Private to "dun": u.
"dent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dent ← ddent · dennt · dentt · detn · dnet · ednt