Which to use
“driven” and “driving” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,787
- “driven” frequency rank
- #1,335
- “driving” frequency rank
- 4122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | driven | driving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of drive | present participle and gerund of drive |
Where the eye mixes driven and driving
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: driven vs driving
A purely visual mix-up. driven (/ˈdɹɪvn̩/) and driving (/ˈdɹaɪvɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
driven is recorded at frequency rank #2,787, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɹɪvn̩/. driving is at rank #1,335, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdɹaɪvɪŋ/.
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 4122, this pair ranks #519,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of driven vs driving
Shared letters: dinrv. Private to "driven": e. Private to "driving": g.
"driven" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "driving" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "driven" and "driving" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "driven" vs "driving" - which ranks higher?
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 "driven" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "driving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #519,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "driven" and "driving" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drivel vs driven". 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 #519,922 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.