donavsdoneTell them apart

Quick tell: dona is a noun, done is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dona” is a noun and “done” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,142
“dona” frequency rank
#236
“done” frequency rank
31378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dona done
Definition Alternative form of donah. Having completed or finished an activity.

Letter map: dona vs done

Shared letters muted; letters that set dona and done apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
dona
4 ch
done

Role in the sentence - dona and done

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dona is anoun and doneanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “dona” becomes e in “done”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dona is recorded at frequency rank #31,142, classified as anoun. done is at rank #236, tagged as anadj, 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 31378, this pair ranks #346,664 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dona vs done

Shared letters: dno. Private to "dona": a. Private to "done": e.

"dona" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • donaddona · dnoa · doan · odna
  • doneddone · dnoe · doen · odne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dona" and "done" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dona" is a noun and "done" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dona" vs "done" - which ranks higher?
"done" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #236 in our English list, against #31,142 for "dona". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "dona" vs "done" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dona" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "done" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #346,664 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dona" and "done" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dona vs dox". 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 #346,664 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list