DATvsDatesConfusable pair

Quick tell: DAT is a abbrev, Dates is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“DAT” is an abbrev and “Dates” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,524
“DAT” frequency rank
#13,798
“Dates” frequency rank
20322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature DAT Dates
Definition Abkürzung für „digital audio tape“ (Digitales Audio Tonband) Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Date

Letter map: DAT vs Dates

Shared letters muted; letters that set DAT and Dates apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
DAT
5 ch
Dates

Part-of-speech tell for DAT / Dates

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: DAT is anabbrev and Datesanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “DAT” sits inside “Dates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

DAT is recorded at frequency rank #6,524, classified as anabbrev, pronounced […]. Dates is at rank #13,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced [deɪt͡s].

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 20322, this pair ranks #1,898,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of DAT vs Dates

Shared letters: adt. Private to "DAT": -. Private to "Dates": es.

"DAT" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Dates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Datesadtes · daets · datess · datse · dattes · ddates · dtaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "DAT" and "Dates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "DAT" is an abbrev and "Dates" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "DAT" vs "Dates" - which ranks higher?
"DAT" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,524 in our German list, against #13,798 for "Dates". 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 "DAT" and "Dates". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "DAT" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,898,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "DAT" and "Dates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dates vs dudes". 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 #1,898,956 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