Blank vs. Dummy — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 22, 2024
Blank refers to something empty or without content, used often for spaces to be filled in, while dummy implies a replica or imitation for instructional or testing purposes.
Difference Between Blank and Dummy
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Blank often describes an unfilled space or a document with empty fields awaiting information. It represents potential for input without prescribing what that input should be. Whereas, a dummy is typically a model or replica, often used in experiments, training, or as placeholders in design and development. It carries a notion of substitution, standing in for the real thing during tests or demonstrations.
Blank pages in a book are just empty spaces, meant to separate sections or to provide an area for notes. On the other hand, a dummy book might be used in a bookstore display or as a prop, simulating the appearance of a real book without the intent of being read.
In computer programming, a blank variable might be one that has been declared but not yet assigned a value. It's a placeholder in code, waiting to be utilized. Conversely, a dummy variable is used in statistical models to encode categorical data, effectively transforming qualitative data into a numerical format for analysis.
Blank ammunition is used for training or signaling purposes in firearms, producing a sound and flash but no projectile. Meanwhile, dummy ammunition is designed for safe handling drills and firearm instruction, often distinguishable by its distinct appearance to prevent confusion with live rounds.
In the context of forms or templates, a blank is an empty field or document meant to be filled out with specific information. This contrasts with a dummy form, which may be used as an example or for testing purposes, often filled with sample data to demonstrate how the form should be completed.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Empty or unfilled; lacking content or markings.
Imitation or replica; used for training or demonstration purposes.
Usage Context
Documents, spaces, fields to be filled.
Testing, training, placeholders in designs.
Purpose
Awaiting input or information.
Simulating the appearance or function of the real thing.
Example in Books
Empty pages for notes or separation.
Props in stores or displays, not meant for reading.
Example in Programming
Variable declared but not initialized.
Variable used to represent categorical data in models.
Compare with Definitions
Blank
Lacking content or information.
The artist stared at the blank canvas, imagining the possibilities.
Dummy
A model or replica.
The firefighters trained with a dummy to simulate rescue scenarios.
Blank
Unmarked and empty.
She handed him a blank sheet of paper for his notes.
Dummy
Tool for testing or demonstration.
Crash tests are conducted using dummies to study the impacts on the human body.
Blank
Not filled in.
The application form was left blank.
Dummy
Placeholder or substitute.
Designers used a dummy text to layout the webpage.
Blank
Expressionless or empty.
His blank expression made it hard to guess his thoughts.
Dummy
Imitation for practice.
The soldiers practiced with dummy grenades during the drill.
Blank
Unrecorded or erased.
The surveillance tape was found to be blank.
Dummy
Non-functional replica.
The museum displayed a dummy of the ancient device.
Blank
Devoid of writing, images, or marks
A blank wall.
A blank screen.
Dummy
A model or replica of a human being
A waxwork dummy
Blank
Containing no information; unrecorded or erased
A blank tape.
A blank diskette.
Dummy
An object designed to resemble and serve as a substitute for the real or usual one
A dummy torpedo
Tests using stuffed owls and wooden dummies
Blank
Having spaces for information to be provided; not completed or filled in
A blank questionnaire.
Dummy
(chiefly in rugby and soccer) a feigned pass or kick intended to deceive an opponent.
Blank
Not having received final processing; unfinished
A blank key.
Dummy
A stupid person.
Blank
Devoid of thought or impression
A blank mind.
Dummy
The declarer's partner, whose cards are exposed on the table after the opening lead and played by the declarer.
Blank
Showing no expression, interest, or understanding; expressionless
A blank stare.
Dummy
(chiefly in rugby and soccer) feign a pass or kick in order to deceive an opponent
Blanco dummied past a static defence
Blank
Devoid of activity or distinctive character; empty
Tried to fill the blank hours of the day.
Dummy
Create a mock-up of (a book, document, etc.)
Officials dummied up a set of photos
Blank
Absolute; complete
A blank refusal.
Dummy
An imitation of a real or original object, intended to be used as a practical substitute.
Blank
An empty space or place, especially an empty space on a document to be filled in.
Dummy
A mannequin used in displaying clothes.
Blank
A document with one or more such spaces.
Dummy
A figure of a person or an animal manipulated by a ventriloquist.
Blank
Something without information or thought
When I read that question on the test, my mind was a blank.
Dummy
A stuffed or pasteboard figure used as a target.
Blank
Something showing no expression or understanding
When he told his mother what happened, her face was a blank.
Dummy
(Football) A heavy stuffed cylindrical bag used for blocking and tackling practice.
Blank
A manufactured article of a standard shape or form that is ready for final processing, as by stamping or cutting
A key blank.
Dummy
A stupid person; a dolt.
Blank
A blank cartridge.
Dummy
A silent or taciturn person.
Blank
Something worthless, such as a losing lottery ticket.
Dummy
(Law) A person or entity that is the named party to a transaction but that acts on behalf of another concealed person or entity. Also called nominee, straw person.
Blank
A mark, usually a dash (—), indicating the omission of a word or of a letter or letters.
Dummy
A person or an agency secretly in the service of another.
Blank
The white circle in the center of a target; a bull's-eye.
Dummy
One of a set of model pages with text and illustrations pasted into place to direct the printer. Also called dummy page.
Blank
(Games) An unmarked piece or portion of a piece, as a domino tile, whose value may be determined by the holder.
Dummy
A set of bound blank pages used as a model to show the size and general appearance of a book being published.
Blank
To remove, as from view; obliterate
"At times the strong glare of the sun blanked it from sight" (Richard Wright).
Dummy
The partner in bridge who exposes their hand to be played by the declarer.
Blank
To block access to
Blank off a subway tunnel.
Dummy
The hand thus exposed.
Blank
(Sports) To prevent (an opponent) from scoring.
Dummy
(Computers) A character or other piece of information entered into a computer only to meet prescribed conditions, such as word length, and having no effect on operations.
Blank
To punch or stamp from flat stock, especially with a die.
Dummy
Simulating or replacing something but lacking its function
A dummy pocket.
A dummy medication in a study.
Blank
To become abstracted. Often used with out
My mind blanked out for a few seconds.
Dummy
Serving as a front or cover for another
A dummy corporation.
Blank
To fail to find or remember something
I blanked when asked the name of our mayor.
Dummy
(Games) Played with a dummy.
Blank
To fade away
The music gradually blanked out.
Dummy
(Computers) Entered or provided only to meet prescribed conditions
A dummy variable.
Blank
(archaic) White or pale; without colour.
Dummy
To make a model of (a publication or page).
Blank
Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in
Blank paper
A blank check
A blank ballot
A blank CD
Dummy
(dated) A silent person; a person who does not talk.
Blank
(figurative) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
A blank desert; a blank wall; blank unconsciousness
Dummy
A stupid person.
Don't be such a dummy!
Blank
Absolute; downright; sheer.
There was a look of blank terror on his face.
A blank refusal to cooperate
Dummy
A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.
Blank
Without expression, usually due to incomprehension.
Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.
Dummy
Something constructed with the size and form of a human, to be used in place of a person.
To understand the effects of the accident, we dropped a dummy from the rooftop.
Blank
Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Dummy
A person who is the mere tool of another; a man of straw.
Blank
Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
A blank day
Dummy
A deliberately nonfunctional device or tool used in place of a functional one.
The hammer and drill in the display are dummies.
Blank
Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.
The shock left his memory blank.
Dummy
A "dummy teat"; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby; a pacifier.
The baby wants her dummy.
Blank
(military) Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.
The recruits were issued with blank rounds for a training exercise.
Dummy
A player whose hand is shown and is to be played from by another player.
Blank
A small French coin, originally of silver, afterwards of copper, worth 5 deniers; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English, worth about 8 pence .
Dummy
(linguistics) A word serving only to make a construction grammatical.
The pronoun "it" in "It's a mystery why this happened" is a dummy.
Blank
(obsolete) A nonplus 16th century.
Dummy
(programming) An unused parameter or value.
If
flag1 is false, the other parameters are dummies.Blank
The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim .
Dummy
A feigned pass or kick or play in order to deceive an opponent.
Blank
A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated since the 16th century.
Dummy
A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.
Blank
An empty space; a void, for example on a paper .
Dummy
(attributive) A newborn animal that is indifferent to stimulus and does not voluntarily move.
A dummy calf, lamb, or foal
Blank
A space to be filled in on a form or template.
Write your answers in the blanks.
Dummy
To make a mock-up or prototype version of something, without some or all off its intended functionality.
The carpenters dummied some props for the rehearsals.
Blank
Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form will be settled in Committee .
Dummy
(sports) To feint.
Blank
A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled up at the pleasure of the person to whom it is given (e.g. a blank charter, ballot, form, contract, etc.), or as the event may determine; a blank form .
Dummy
(slang) Extremely.
It's dummy hot outside.
Blank
An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all .
Dummy
Silent; mute; noiseless; as a dummy engine.
Blank
An unprinted leaf of a book 20th century.
Dummy
Fictitious or sham; feigned; as, a dummy watch.
Blank
(literature) Blank verse .
Dummy
One who is dumb.
Blank
A piece of metal (such as a coin, screw, nuts), cut and shaped to the required size of the thing to be made, and ready for the finishing operations; (coining) the disc of metal before stamping .
Dummy
A sham package in a shop, or one which does not contain what its exterior indicates.
Blank
Any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required since the 19th century.
Dummy
An imitation or copy of something, to be used as a substitute; a model; a lay figure; as, a figure on which clothing is exhibited in shop windows; a blank paper copy used to show the size of the future book, etc.
Blank
(electric recording) The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus 20th century.
Dummy
One who plays a merely nominal part in any action; a sham character.
Blank
(figurative) A vacant space, place, or period; a void since the 17th century.
Dummy
A thick-witted person; a dolt.
Blank
The 1 / 230400 of a grain 17th century.
Dummy
A locomotive with condensing engines, and, hence, without the noise of escaping steam; also, a dummy car.
Blank
An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory since the 18th century.
Dummy
The fourth or exposed hand when three persons play at a four-handed game of cards.
Blank
A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word since the 18th century
Dummy
A floating barge connected with a pier.
Blank
The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space-bar on a keyboard.
Dummy
A person who does not talk
Blank
(dominoes) A domino without points on one or both of its divisions.
The double blank
The six blank
Dummy
An ignorant or foolish person
Blank
(firearms) blank cartridge since the 19th century.
It was an unloaded gun that fired only blanks.
Dummy
A figure representing the human form
Blank
An ineffective effort which achieves nothing since the 20th century.
Dummy
A cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet
Blank
(chemistry) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.
Dummy
Make a dummy of;
Dummy up the books that are to be published
Blank
(slang) Infertile semen.
Dummy
Having the appearance of being real but lacking capacity to function;
A dummy corporation
Blank
(transitive) To make void; to erase.
I blanked out my previous entry.
Blank
To ignore (a person) deliberately.
She blanked me for no reason.
Blank
To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.
At high angles of attack, the shuttle's rudder is blanked by the fuselage and wings, forcing it to use its RCS thrusters for yaw control.
Blank
(transitive) To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event.
The team was blanked.
England blanks Wales to advance to the final.
Blank
(intransitive) To become blank.
Blank
(intransitive) To be temporarily unable to remember.
I'm blanking on her name right now.
Blank
Of a white or pale color; without color.
To the blank moonHer office they prescribed.
Blank
Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in with some special writing; - said of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
Blank
Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank.
Blank
Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.
Blank
Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
Blank
Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant.
The blank . . . glance of a half returned consciousness.
Blank
Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
Blank
Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.
I can not write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you.
From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
I was ill. I can't tell how long - it was a blank.
Blank
A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
In Fortune's lottery liesA heap of blanks, like this, for one small prize.
Blank
A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or characters a blank ballot; - especially, a paper on which are to be inserted designated items of information, for which spaces are left vacant; a bland form.
The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank.
Blank
A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, etc.
Blank
The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
Let me still remainThe true blank of thine eye.
Blank
Aim; shot; range.
I have stood . . . within the blank of his displeasureFor my free speech.
Blank
A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence.
Blank
A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.
Blank
A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the "double blank"; the "six blank."
Blank
To make void; to annul.
Blank
To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse.
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy.
Blank
A blank character used to separate successive words in writing or printing;
He said the space is the most important character in the alphabet
Blank
A substitute for a taboo word;
I hit the blank blank car
Blank
A blank gap or missing part
Blank
A piece of material ready to be made into something
Blank
A cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet
Blank
Keep the opposing (baseball) team from winning
Blank
Of a surface; not written or printed on;
Blank pages
Fill in the blank spaces
A clean page
Wide white margins
Blank
Void of expression;
A blank stare
Blank
Not charged with a bullet;
A blank cartridge
Common Curiosities
What is a blank space?
A blank space is an empty area without any content or markings, often waiting to be filled.
How is a dummy used in testing?
Dummies are used as stand-ins or replicas in testing to simulate real conditions without the risk or cost associated with using the real item.
Is a dummy always a physical object?
While often physical, dummies can also be conceptual, such as dummy variables in statistical models.
Can a document be both blank and a dummy?
Yes, a document can be a dummy for demonstration filled with blanks for illustrative purposes.
How do dummy variables work in statistics?
Dummy variables encode categorical data as numbers to allow for statistical analysis or modeling.
Why might a designer use a dummy book?
Designers use dummy books for layout, space planning, or aesthetic purposes in settings like bookstores or stage sets.
How are blanks used in programming?
In programming, blanks can refer to uninitialized variables or empty spaces in code for clarity or structure.
Is a dummy form useful for training?
Yes, dummy forms are often used in training to demonstrate how to correctly fill out documents or data entry fields.
Can a blank be filled?
Yes, a blank is specifically meant to be filled in with information or content.
Why use blank ammunition?
Blank ammunition is used for training, ceremonial purposes, or signaling without the danger of a projectile.
Do dummies have to look realistic?
The realism of a dummy depends on its purpose; some need to be highly realistic, while others are more symbolic.
What's the difference between a blank and an empty space?
A blank is specifically an empty space designated for input or content, whereas an empty space may not have a defined purpose.
What's the significance of a blank expression?
A blank expression suggests a lack of emotion or reaction, often making it hard to interpret someone's thoughts.
What is the purpose of a dummy in crash testing?
Dummies in crash testing are used to study the effects of accidents on the human body, contributing to safer vehicle designs.
Can blank be used as a verb?
Yes, "to blank" can mean to make something empty or to erase content.
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
