Which to use
“dam” and “day” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,524
- “dam” frequency rank
- #5,598
- “day” frequency rank
- 39122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dam | day |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Presa, dique | Día. |
Where the eye mixes dam and day
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dam with day
A purely visual mix-up. dam (/dæm/) and day (/deɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - m in “dam” becomes y in “day”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dam is recorded at frequency rank #33,524, classified as anoun, pronounced /dæm/. day is at rank #5,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪ/.
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 39122, this pair ranks #166,279 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dam vs day
Shared letters: ad. Private to "dam": m. Private to "day": y.
"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "day" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dam" for "day" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dam" vs "day" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dam" and "day" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "day" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,279 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dam" and "day" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dade vs dam". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #166,279 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.