Which to use
“outdone” is a verb and “outline” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,132
- “outdone” frequency rank
- #8,071
- “outline” frequency rank
- 45203
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outdone | outline |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of outdo | A line marking the boundary of an object figure. |
Where the eye mixes outdone and outline
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. outdone and outline follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses outdone with outline
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: outdone is /aʊtˈdʌn/ while outline is /ˈaʊtlaɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
outdone is recorded at frequency rank #37,132, classified as averb, pronounced /aʊtˈdʌn/. outline is at rank #8,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊtlaɪn/.
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 45203, this pair ranks #223,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of outdone vs outline
Shared letters: enotu. Private to "outdone": d. Private to "outline": il.
"outdone" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV · "outline" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "outdone" and "outline" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "outdone" or "outline"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "outdone" and "outline" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "outdone" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outline" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,432 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "outdone" and "outline" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outdo vs outdone". 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 #223,432 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.