donate
/də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/
"donate" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“donate” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,675 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #6,675
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | donate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,675 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “donate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for donate is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,675 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for donate, with forms such as "ddonate", "dnoate", and "doante". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "done", "dont", "donut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Circa 1845, back-formation from donation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), chiefly found in American English. Ultimately from Latin dōnāre (“to give”). The correct English form is donate, spelled D-O-N-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.
Etymology
Circa 1845, back-formation from donation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), chiefly found in American English. Ultimately from Latin dōnāre (“to give”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddonate,dnoate,doante,donaet,donatte,donnate,dontae,odnate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of donate - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "donate"?
What does "donate" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "donate"?
How do you pronounce "donate"?
What is the origin of the word "donate"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “donate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-N-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “done” - see the side-by-side comparison. donate vs done
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.