dam
\dam\
The verdict
“dam” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #14,904) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #14,904
- frequency rank, French
- 5,307
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (Utilisé uniquement dans les locutions) Dommage, préjudice.
Corpus desk
Index FR-dam · dam · French
dam · rank #14,904 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #14,904
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,307
- PHOTO-FINISH curtis
Nearest frequency peer: curtis (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “dam”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- culot
culot
85,100 corpus weight
- curry
curry
85,099 corpus weight
- curtis
curtis
85,098 corpus weight
- dam
dam
85,097 corpus weight
- Descartes
Descartes
85,096 corpus weight
- DG
DG
85,095 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dam” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dam |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \dam\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #14,904 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dam” sits in French frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for dam is neighbouring look-alikes ("de", "du", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \dam\. Frequency #14,904 among 5,307 “D” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
dam doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "de", "du", "dr", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dam, spelled D-A-M.
Definition
- 1(Utilisé uniquement dans les locutions) Dommage, préjudice.
- 2Punition consistant à être privé de la vue de Dieu ; damnation. → voir peine du dam
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On s’en va voisiner d’une à l’autre maison. On se montre les trouvailles qu’on a faites en sa cave ; et, comme les augures, on se cligne de l’œil, en se congratulant. On se raconte aussi les dommages et les dams (les dames et leurs dommages). Ceux des voisins amusent et distraient des siens.
Il faut être plus que jamais reconnaissant aux organisateurs de semblables auditions dont le prix devient à tel point astronomique, grâce aux bienveillantes taxes dont l’État les écrase, que bientôt elles disparaîtront complètement pour le plus grand dam de la musique.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dam", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "dam". Here's where to go from here.
- "dam" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "de". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #14,904 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.