# don vs downy

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### don
*noun · IPA /dɒn/ · frequency rank #2,480*
A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge.

### downy
*adjective · IPA /ˈdaʊni/ · frequency rank #47,024*
Having down, covered with a soft fuzzy coating as of small feathers or hair.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/don-vs-downy