Danube
/ˈdænjuːb/
"danube" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Danube” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,135 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #24,135
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A river in Europe; flowing 2,850 kilometers from the confluence of the Breg and Brigach at Donaueschingen, Germany, into the Black Sea in Romania.
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 | Danube |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈdænjuːb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #24,135 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Danube” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Danube is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdænjuːb/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,135 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for Danube, with forms such as "adnube", "danbue", and "dannube". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "Dane", "dance", "Dante", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since at least 1598 (also note Middle English Danby (“Danube”) att. in 15th c. Mandeville's Travels). Borrowed from Middle French Danube, from Old French Danube, from Latin Dānubius, from Proto-Celtic *Dānowyos (compare Welsh river name Donwy), an … The correct English form is Danube, spelled D-A-N-U-B-E.
Definition
- 1A river in Europe; flowing 2,850 kilometers from the confluence of the Breg and Brigach at Donaueschingen, Germany, into the Black Sea in Romania.
- 2A locale in the United States, named for the river:
- 3A locale in the United States, named for the river:
Etymology
Attested since at least 1598 (also note Middle English Danby (“Danube”) att. in 15th c. Mandeville's Travels). Borrowed from Middle French Danube, from Old French Danube, from Latin Dānubius, from Proto-Celtic *Dānowyos (compare Welsh river name Donwy), an extended form of the river-name *Dānu, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂nu (“river, river goddess”), akin to *dʰenh₂- (“to set in motion; to flow”). Cognate with Latin fōns (“spring”), Persian دنیدن (danidan, “to hasten, run”), Ossetian дон (don, “water, river”), Sanskrit धन्वति (dhánvati, “it flows, runs”). More at Danube.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adnube,danbue,dannube,danubbe,danueb,daunbe,ddanube,dnaube
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Danube - 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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Using “Danube”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-A-N-U-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdænjuːb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Dane” - see the side-by-side comparison. Danube vs Dane
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.