dame
/deɪm/
"dame" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dame” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,551. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,551
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dame · dame · English
dame · rank #7,551 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,551
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 26,416
- PHOTO-FINISH curry
Nearest frequency peer: curry (-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 “dame”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- cooler
cooler
92,453 corpus weight
- countless
countless
92,452 corpus weight
- curry
curry
92,451 corpus weight
- dame
dame
92,450 corpus weight
- deceased
deceased
92,449 corpus weight
- dedication
dedication
92,448 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dame” 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 | dame |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /deɪm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,551 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dame” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around dame (IPA /deɪm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,551 among 26,416 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dame, with forms such as "adme", "daem", and "damme". 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, "de", "DM", "day", 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 dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”),… The correct English form is dame, spelled D-A-M-E.
Definition
- 1Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
- 2A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
- 3In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.
- 4A woman.
- 5A lady, a woman.
- 6The hereditary feudal ruler (seigneur) of Sark, when the title is held by a woman in her own right.
- 7A queen.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dame appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dame Edith Sitwell
The cover of the modern cd, issued by EMI Classics with Dame Janet Baker and Sir John Barbirolli in 1965, carries a portrait of Dame Janet wearing a long coral necklace in reference to the song 'Where the Corals lie' to words by Richard Garnett (1835–1906).
Etymology
From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- adme
- daem
- damme
- ddame
- dmae
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dame - 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 "dame", 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 (5 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.