damvsdoxTell them apart

Which to use

“dam” and “dox” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,410
“dam” frequency rank
#49,882
“dox” frequency rank
55292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dam dox
Definition A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding. plural of doc

Letter map: dam vs dox

Shared letters muted; letters that set dam and dox apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
dam
3 ch
dox

Pair insight - dam / dox

dam and dox are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dam is recorded at frequency rank #5,410, classified as anoun, pronounced /dæm/. dox is at rank #49,882, tagged as anoun.

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 55292, this pair ranks #134,741 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dam vs dox

Shared letters: d. Private to "dam": am. Private to "dox": ox.

"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dam" and "dox" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "dam" vs "dox" - which ranks higher?
"dam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,410 in our English list, against #49,882 for "dox". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "dam" vs "dox" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,741 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dam" and "dox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dour vs dox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #134,741 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list