Which to use
“done” is an adjective and “donkey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #236
- “done” frequency rank
- #12,581
- “donkey” frequency rank
- 12817
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | done | donkey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having completed or finished an activity. | A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse. |
Where the eye mixes done and donkey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between done and donkey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: done is /dʌn/ while donkey is /ˈdɒŋki/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
done is recorded at frequency rank #236, classified as anadj, pronounced /dʌn/. donkey is at rank #12,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɒŋki/.
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 12817, this pair ranks #479,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of done vs donkey
Shared letters: deno. Private to "done": -. Private to "donkey": ky.
"done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "donkey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "done" for "donkey" ever safe?
Frequency check: "done" vs "donkey" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "done" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donkey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #479,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "done" and "donkey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dinky vs donkey". 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 #479,392 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.