den
/ˈdɛn/noun, verb, adverb
den is spelled D-E-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Den, the name). As a noun, den means “A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of den is dens.
How many letters and syllables are in den?
| Letters | 3: D-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 7,009th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is den?
Den appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,009th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Den, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce den?
- US /ˈdɛn/
- /ˈdɪ̟n/
Den has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-den.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with den
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: dene.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with den?
11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as den from its last stressed vowel (/ɛn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: end.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of den
- dens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- denning participle, present
- denned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does den mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a hill, or among rocks; especially, a cave used by a wild animal for shelter or concealment.
a den of robbers
- 2
A squalid or wretched place; a haunt.
a den of vice
- 3
A comfortable room not used for formal entertaining.
Near-synonyms: family room, sunroom, Florida room, Arizona room, rec room, playroom
- 4
Synonym of fort (“structure improvised from furniture, etc. for playing games.”).
Our little girls love using bedsheets and other stuff around the house to make dens in the living room and pretending they're on adventures.
- 5
ScotlandUKobsoleteA narrow glen; a ravine; a dell.
- 6
A group of Cub Scouts of the same age who work on projects together.
- 7
Abbreviation of denier (a unit of weight).
- 8
Alternative form of dene.
verb
- 1
To ensconce or hide oneself in (or as in) a den.
- 2
Of an animal, to use as a den; to take up residence in.
adverb
- 1
Pronunciation spelling of then, representing AAVE, Bermuda English.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Den in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | antre, tanière, repaire , salon |
| German | Höhle, Bau , Wohnzimmer |
| Portuguese | toca, cova , enxovia |
| Spanish | madriguera, cubil, guarida , gabinete |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does den come from?
From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).