DämmevsdareTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#36,271
“Dämme” frequency rank
#44,517
“dare” frequency rank
80788
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dämme dare
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Damm es wagen, zu (+Infinitiv); den Mut haben, zu (+Infinitiv)

Where the eye mixes Dämme and dare

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Dämme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against dare's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Dämme
4 ch
dare

Look-alike desk: Dämme vs dare

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dämme is [ˈdɛmə] while dare is [deə(ɹ)]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dämme is recorded at frequency rank #36,271, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɛmə]. 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 80788, this pair ranks #188,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Dämme vs dare

Shared letters: de. Private to "Dämme": mä. Private to "dare": ar.

"Dämme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dare ← darre · ddare · drae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Dämme" and "dare" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dämme" is a noun and "dare" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Dämme" vs "dare" - which ranks higher?
"Dämme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,271 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Dämme" and "dare" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dämme" 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 #188,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dämme" 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

Confusion rank #188,451 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