dadevsdreConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,463
“dade” frequency rank
#33,559
“dre” frequency rank
80022
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dade dre
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vós) del imperativo de dar. Por

Where the eye mixes dade and dre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dade runs 4 letters (CVCV) against dre's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
dade
3 ch
dre

Look-alike desk: dade vs dre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dade is [ˈd̪að̞ɪ] while dre is /ˈdreː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80022, 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]. dre is at rank #33,559, tagged as aprep, pronounced /ˈdreː/.

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 80022, this pair ranks #12,209 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dade vs dre

Shared letters: de. Private to "dade": a. Private to "dre": r.

"dade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dre" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dade ← adde · dadde · ddade · ddae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dade" for "dre" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dade" is a verb and "dre" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dade" or "dre" show up more?
"dre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,559 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "dade" and "dre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,209 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dade" and "dre" 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 #12,209 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