dabs
/dæbz/
"dabs" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dabs” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #47,006. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #47,006
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of dab
Corpus desk
Index EN-dabs · dabs · English
dabs · rank #47,006 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #47,006
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 26,416
- PHOTO-FINISH dabbling
Nearest frequency peer: dabbling (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “dabs”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- crone
crone
52,999 corpus weight
- crystallogr…
crystallography
52,998 corpus weight
- cupping
cupping
52,997 corpus weight
- dabbling
dabbling
52,996 corpus weight
- dabs
dabs
52,995 corpus weight
- decry
decry
52,991 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dabs” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dabs |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dæbz/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #47,006 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dabs” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around dabs (IPA /dæbz/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #47,006 among 26,416 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "plural of dab".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for dabs, with forms such as "adbs", "dabbs", and "dabss". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "DB", "DS", "day", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is dabs, spelled D-A-B-S.
Definition
- 1plural of dab
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- adbs
- dabbs
- dabss
- dasb
- dbas
- ddabs
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dabs - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dabs", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.