English homophones
da/dah
"da" (#2,782 written frequency) beats "dah" (#24,721) in this 2-word /dɑː/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /dɑː/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "da" leads at #2,782, with "dah" trailing at #24,721.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "da" then splits - "da" (2 letters) vs "dah" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across da, dah: ad. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
da
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV
Inventory ad · no private letters vs siblings
dah
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory adh · private h
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "da" when you mean: Father.
- Write "dah" when you mean: The spoken representation of a dash in radio and telegraph Morse code.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (da, dah). Here's where to go from here.
- "da" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #2,782 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Darryl · Darrell. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "da, dah" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.