Adding onto what Tinkeringbell said, some people will assume that if someone of the opposite gender asks them to dinner, or a movie, or coffee, or some other date-like activity, alone, that that implies the activity will be a date. However, most will not!

In my experience, whenever I ask someone out of the same gender, I try to explicitly state that it will be a date, usually by using the word 'date'. There's two ways to do this, either start by asking them out and then include a specific suggestion: "Hey, do you want to go on a date sometime? I was thinking we could go to [insert fun thing here]", or, if you're already friends with them and you'd want to go do the thing anyway, regardless of whether or not it's a date, "I was thinking of going to [insert fun thing here], do you want to come? It could be a date! Or not, if you'd rather just go as friends."

I often forget to do this when asking out someone of the opposite gender, since I assume they will assume it's a date (and you know what they say about when you assume, it makes an a** out of u and me). This can often lead to confusion since you just ask "Hey, want to go do [insert fun thing] with me?" leading to the other person asking "What, as a date, or...?" This is awkward, especially if their answer is no! So, always clarify, and good luck!

Adding onto what Tinkeringbell said, some people will assume that if someone of the opposite gender asks them to dinner, or a movie, or coffee, or some other date-like activity, alone, that that implies the activity will be a date. However, most will not!

In my experience, whenever I ask someone out of the same gender, I try to explicitly state that it will be a date, usually by using the word 'date'. 

There's two ways to do this, either start by asking them out and then include a specific suggestion:

"Hey, do you want to go on a date sometime? I was thinking we could go to [insert fun thing here]"

Or, if you're already friends with them and you'd want to go do the thing anyway, regardless of whether or not it's a date,

"I was thinking of going to [insert fun thing here], do you want to come? It could be a date! Or not, if you'd rather just go as friends."

I often forget to do this when asking out someone of the opposite gender, since I assume they will assume it's a date (and you know what they say about when you assume, it makes an a** out of u and me). This can often lead to confusion since you just ask "Hey, want to go do [insert fun thing] with me?" leading to the other person asking "What, as a date, or...?" This is awkward, especially if their answer is no! So, always clarify, and good luck!