diggervsdoggedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: digger is a noun, dogged is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“digger” is a noun and “dogged” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,240
“digger” frequency rank
#30,009
“dogged” frequency rank
53249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature digger dogged
Definition A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches. simple past and past participle of dog

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set digger and dogged apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
digger
6 ch
dogged

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: digger is /ˈdɪɡɚ/ while dogged is /dɒɡd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

digger is recorded at frequency rank #23,240, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɪɡɚ/. dogged is at rank #30,009, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɒɡd/.

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 53249, this pair ranks #150,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of digger vs dogged

Shared letters: deg. Private to "digger": ir. Private to "dogged": o.

"digger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dogged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diggerddigger · dgiger · digegr · diger · diggerr · diggre · idgger
  • doggedddogged · dgoged · doged · dogegd · doggde · doggedd · odgged

Frequency comparison

digger#23,240
dogged#30,009

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "digger" and "dogged" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "digger" is a noun and "dogged" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "digger" or "dogged"?
"digger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,240 in our English list, against #30,009 for "dogged". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering digger vs dogged

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “digger”; for a verb, it's “dogged”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “digger” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list