damvsdasConfusable pair

Quick tell: dam is a abbrev, das is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dam” is an abbrev and “das” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,288
“dam” frequency rank
#5
“das” frequency rank
24293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dam das
Definition Dekameter [1] Nominativ und Akkusativ Singular Neutrum des bestimmten Artikels der

Letter map: dam vs das

Shared letters muted; letters that set dam and das apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
dam
3 ch
das

Part-of-speech tell for dam / das

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dam is anabbrev and dasadeterminer. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “dam” becomes s in “das”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dam is recorded at frequency rank #24,288, classified as anabbrev. das is at rank #5, tagged as adet, pronounced [das].

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 24293, this pair ranks #1,849,688 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dam vs das

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dam": m. Private to "das": s.

"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "das" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dam" and "das" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dam" is an abbrev and "das" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dam" vs "das" - which ranks higher?
"das" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5 in our German list, against #24,288 for "dam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "dam" and "das". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "das" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,849,688 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dam" and "das" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dam vs duc". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,849,688 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