Which to use
“outdo” and “outdone” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,825
- “outdo” frequency rank
- #37,132
- “outdone” frequency rank
- 77957
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outdo | outdone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To excel; go beyond in performance; surpass. | past participle of outdo |
Where the eye mixes outdo and outdone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: outdo vs outdone
A purely visual mix-up. outdo (/aʊtˈdu/) and outdone (/aʊtˈdʌn/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “outdo” sits inside “outdone”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
outdo is recorded at frequency rank #40,825, classified as averb, pronounced /aʊtˈdu/. outdone is at rank #37,132, tagged as averb, pronounced /aʊtˈdʌn/.
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 77957, this pair ranks #25,871 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of outdo vs outdone
Shared letters: dotu. Private to "outdo": -. Private to "outdone": en.
"outdo" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "outdone" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "outdo" and "outdone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "outdo" vs "outdone" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "outdo" and "outdone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "outdo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outdone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,871 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "outdo" and "outdone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ould vs outdo". 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 #25,871 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.