DammvsdareWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Damm is a noun, dare is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Damm” is a noun and “dare” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,347
“Damm” frequency rank
#44,517
“dare” frequency rank
53864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Damm dare
Definition durch schüttende Anhäufung von Erdmassen und/oder Felsen, Steinen errichteter Wall es wagen, zu (+Infinitiv); den Mut haben, zu (+Infinitiv)

Where the eye mixes Damm and dare

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Damm
4 ch
dare

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Damm is [dam] while dare is [deə(ɹ)]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Damm is recorded at frequency rank #9,347, classified as anoun, pronounced [dam]. dare is at rank #44,517, tagged as averb, pronounced [deə(ɹ)].

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 53864, this pair ranks #1,041,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Damm vs dare

Shared letters: ad. Private to "Damm": m. Private to "dare": er.

"Damm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dammadmm · ddamm · dmam
  • daredarre · ddare · drae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Damm" and "dare" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Damm" is a noun and "dare" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Damm" or "dare"?
"Damm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,347 in our German list, against #44,517 for "dare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Damm" and "dare". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Damm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,041,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Damm" and "dare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dare vs dörr". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list