Hanging out vs. Dating... Can you accidentally date someone?

Anonymous
A guy, a casual friend, asked me to "hang out" at an event on campus, which I agreed to do. During the course of the event, his behavior gave me reason to suspect that by "hang out," he might actually mean "go out" or "date."

I've looked here on GAG to investigate this, and it seems a lot of guys like to use the term "hang out," but they mean that in a romantically-interested way, not a just-friends way.

Here's the problem: I'm dating a girl. I don't want to date two people at once, nor do I want to date him at all. I'm not interested and I feel like I need to make that clear, but I don't know how without being awkward or rude. I would have brought it up earlier than this had I known that it would be necessary to talk about. I don't want him or his friends thinking I just dated him when I'm already seeing someone.

Can that event have been a date without me knowing it was supposed to be a date? No money was involved and no physical contact, just walking and talking at a fair.
Hanging out vs. Dating... Can you accidentally date someone?
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