dañenvsdenConfusable pair

Which to use

“dañen” and “den” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,695
“dañen” frequency rank
#2,020
“den” frequency rank
49715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dañen den
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dañar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dar o de darse.

Where the eye mixes dañen and den

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dañen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against den's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
dañen
3 ch
den

Visual trap between dañen and den

A purely visual mix-up. dañen ([ˈd̪aɲẽn]) and den ([ˈd̪ẽn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dañen is recorded at frequency rank #47,695, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aɲẽn]. den is at rank #2,020, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ẽn].

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 49715, this pair ranks #107,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dañen vs den

Shared letters: den. Private to "dañen": añ. Private to "den": -.

"dañen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "den" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dañen" and "den" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aɲẽn] versus [ˈd̪ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dañen" or "den" show up more?
"den" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,020 in our Spanish list, against #47,695 for "dañen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dañen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "den" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dañen" and "den" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dañen vs donen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #107,236 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