dansvsdayWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#19,078
“dans” frequency rank
#5,598
“day” frequency rank
24676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dans day
Definition En. Día.

Where the eye mixes dans and day

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dans
3 ch
day

Why the eye confuses dans with day

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dans is [dɑ̃] while day is /deɪ/. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dans is recorded at frequency rank #19,078, classified as aprep, pronounced [dɑ̃]. 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 24676, this pair ranks #240,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dans vs day

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dans": ns. Private to "day": y.

"dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "day" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dansadns · danns · danss · dasn · ddans · dnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dans" and "day" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dans" is a preposition and "day" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dans" or "day"?
"day" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,598 in our Spanish list, against #19,078 for "dans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "dans" 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 #240,028 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dans" and "day" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dans vs dont". 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 #240,028 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