Which to use
“done” is an adjective and “downer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #236
- “done” frequency rank
- #26,764
- “downer” frequency rank
- 27000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | done | downer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having completed or finished an activity. | A negative drug trip. |
Where the eye mixes done and downer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between done and downer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: done is /dʌn/ while downer is /ˈdaʊnə/. 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 27000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
done is recorded at frequency rank #236, classified as anadj, pronounced /dʌn/. downer is at rank #26,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdaʊnə/.
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 27000, this pair ranks #382,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of done vs downer
Shared letters: deno. Private to "done": -. Private to "downer": rw.
"done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "downer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "done" for "downer" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "done" or "downer" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "done" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "downer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "done" and "downer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "downer vs Downie". 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 #382,429 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.