dat
/dæt/
"dat" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dat” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,898 in English word frequency and used as a determiner.
- #13,898
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pronunciation spelling of that.
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 | dat |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Determiner |
| IPA | /dæt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #13,898 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dat” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dat is 3 letters long, classified as a determiner, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dæt/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,898 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Pronunciation spelling of that.".
No misspelling variants are generated for dat in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "do", "Dr", "de", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Pronuctiation spelling of that, representing dialects with th-stopping. Compare Dutch dat, Low German dat, and German das. The correct English form is dat, spelled D-A-T.
Definition
- 1Pronunciation spelling of that.
Etymology
Pronuctiation spelling of that, representing dialects with th-stopping. Compare Dutch dat, Low German dat, and German das.
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 “dat”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dæt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “do” - see the side-by-side comparison. dat vs do
- 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.