DamenvsdanTell them apart

Which to use

“Damen” and “dan” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,411
“Damen” frequency rank
#4,415
“dan” frequency rank
5826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Damen dan
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Dame Zeitraum zwischen Sonnenaufgang und Sonnenuntergang; Tag

Where the eye mixes Damen and dan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Damen
3 ch
dan

Look-alike desk: Damen vs dan

A purely visual mix-up. Damen ([ˈdaːmən]) and dan ([ˈdaːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Damen is recorded at frequency rank #1,411, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdaːmən]. dan is at rank #4,415, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdaːn].

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 5826, this pair ranks #1,993,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Damen vs dan

Shared letters: adn. Private to "Damen": em. Private to "dan": -.

"Damen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dan" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Damenadmen · daemn · damenn · dammen · damne · ddamen · dmaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Damen" for "dan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaːmən] versus [ˈdaːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Damen" or "dan"?
"Damen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,411 in our German list, against #4,415 for "dan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Damen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,993,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Damen" and "dan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dan vs duran". 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 #1,993,596 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