dais
/ˈdeɪ.ɪs/
"dais" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dais” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #45,873) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #45,873
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A raised platform in a room for a high table, a seat of honour, a throne, or other dignified occupancy, such as ancestral statues; a similar platform supporting a lectern, pulpit, etc., which may b...
Corpus desk
Index EN-dais · dais · English
dais · rank #45,873 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #45,873
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH CVD
Nearest frequency peer: CVD (-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 neighbours of confusable “dais”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- cushioned
cushioned
54,130 corpus weight
- CVD
CVD
54,129 corpus weight
- dais
dais
54,128 corpus weight
- Dalhousie
Dalhousie
54,127 corpus weight
- defector
defector
54,126 corpus weight
- deferring
deferring
54,125 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “dais” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | dais |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdeɪ.ɪs/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #45,873 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “dais”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for dais is neighbouring look-alikes ("di", "DS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈdeɪ.ɪs/. Frequency #45,873 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for dais, with forms such as "daiss", "dasi", and "ddais". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "di", "DS", "did", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English deis, from Anglo-Norman deis, from Old French deis, dois (modern French dais), from Latin discum, accusative singular of discus (“discus, disc, quoit; dish”) (Late Latin discum (“table”)), from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “discus, disc… The correct English form is dais, spelled D-A-I-S.
Definition
- 1A raised platform in a room for a high table, a seat of honour, a throne, or other dignified occupancy, such as ancestral statues; a similar platform supporting a lectern, pulpit, etc., which may be used to speak from.
- 2A bench, a settle, a pew.
- 3An elevated table in a hall at which important people were seated; a high table.
- 4The canopy over an altar, etc.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dais appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Many of the figures, clad in mail from head to foot, were ranged above the dais; and she could almost fancy a skeleton form beneath, or that wild and fearful eyes glared through the apertures of the closed visors.
At last we came to the head of the cave, where there was a rock daïs almost exactly similar to the one on which we had been so furiously attacked, a fact that proved to me that these daïs must have been used as altars, probably for the celebration of religious ceremonies, and more especially of rites connected with the interment of the dead. On either sid…
Etymology
From Middle English deis, from Anglo-Norman deis, from Old French deis, dois (modern French dais), from Latin discum, accusative singular of discus (“discus, disc, quoit; dish”) (Late Latin discum (“table”)), from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “discus, disc; tray”), from δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to cast, to throw; to strike”). Cognate with Italian desco, Occitan des. Doublet of desk, disc, discus, dish, disk, and diskos.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- daiss
- dasi
- ddais
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dais - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dais", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).