Which to use
“driven” is a verb and “drove” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,787
- “driven” frequency rank
- #3,876
- “drove” frequency rank
- 6663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | driven | drove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of drive | A cattle drive or the herd being driven by it; thus, a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures. |
Where the eye mixes driven and drove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between driven and drove
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: driven is /ˈdɹɪvn̩/ while drove is /dɹəʊv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6663, 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/. drove is at rank #3,876, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹəʊv/.
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 6663, this pair ranks #510,514 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of driven vs drove
Shared letters: derv. Private to "driven": in. Private to "drove": o.
"driven" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "drove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "driven" and "drove" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "driven" vs "drove" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "driven" and "drove" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "driven" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #510,514 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "driven" and "drove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drove vs Druze". 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 #510,514 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.