dadevsdansTell them apart

Quick tell: dade is a verb, dans is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dade” is a verb and “dans” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,463
“dade” frequency rank
#19,078
“dans” frequency rank
65541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dade dans
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vós) del imperativo de dar. En.

Where the eye mixes dade and dans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dade (CVCV) and dans (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
dade
4 ch
dans

Why the eye confuses dade with dans

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dade is [ˈd̪að̞ɪ] while dans is [dɑ̃]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dade is recorded at frequency rank #46,463, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪að̞ɪ]. dans is at rank #19,078, tagged as aprep, pronounced [dɑ̃].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 65541, this pair ranks #42,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dade vs dans

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dade": e. Private to "dans": ns.

"dade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dade ← adde · dadde · ddade · ddae
  • dans ← adns · danns · danss · dasn · ddans · dnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dade" for "dans" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dade" is a verb and "dans" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dade" vs "dans" - which ranks higher?
"dans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,078 in our Spanish list, against #46,463 for "dade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dade" and "dans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dade vs dañen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #42,346 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list