dense
/dɛns/
"dense" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dense” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,335 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #7,335
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having relatively high density.
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 | dense |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /dɛns/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,335 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dense” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dense is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɛns/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,335 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for dense, with forms such as "ddense", "denes", and "dennse". 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, "Des", "done", "desk", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)). The correct English form is dense, spelled D-E-N-S-E.
Definition
- 1Having relatively high density.
- 2Compact; crowded together.
- 3Thick; difficult to penetrate.
- 4Opaque; allowing little light to pass through.
- 5Obscure or difficult to understand.
- 6Such that its closure in T is T.
- 7Slow to comprehend; of low intelligence. (of a person)
Etymology
From Middle French dense, from Latin dēnsus, from Proto-Indo-European *dens- (“thick, dense”) (whence also Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddense,denes,dennse,densse,desne,dnese,ednse
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dense - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “dense”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-N-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɛns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Des” - see the side-by-side comparison. dense vs Des
- 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.