DahmevsDameConfusable pair

Quick tell: Dahme is a name, Dame is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Dahme” is a name and “Dame” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,991
“Dahme” frequency rank
#2,198
“Dame” frequency rank
33189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dahme Dame
Definition ein Fluss in Deutschland, Nebenfluss der Spree Frau

Same sound, different letters: Dahme vs Dame

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. Dahme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Dame's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Dahme
4 ch
Dame

Same sound, different spelling - Dahme / Dame

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: Dahme and Dame carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈdaːmə]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is aname, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dahme is recorded at frequency rank #30,991, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈdaːmə]. Dame is at rank #2,198, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdaːmə].

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 33189, this pair ranks #1,691,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dahme vs Dame

Shared letters: adem. Private to "Dahme": h. Private to "Dame": -.

"Dahme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Dame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dahme ← adhme · dahem · dahhme · dahmme · damhe · ddahme · dhame
  • Dame ← adme · daem · damme · ddame · dmae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dahme" and "Dame" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dahme" is a name and "Dame" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Dahme" vs "Dame" - which ranks higher?
"Dame" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,198 in our German list, against #30,991 for "Dahme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "Dahme" / "Dame". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dahme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,691,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dahme" and "Dame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dahme vs dare". 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 #1,691,368 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list