dame

\dam\

/\dam\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dame” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,255) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,255
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femme qui appartient à la noblesse.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dame · dame · French

dame · rank #1,255 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,255
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH direct

Nearest frequency peer: direct (+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 “dame”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dame” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dame vs de
50% similar
dame vs dm
50% similar
dame vs due
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dame
PropertyValue
Headworddame
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dam\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,255
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “dame” se place dans la fréquence du français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).damese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « direct » (#1,256), « contact » (#1,253), « divers » (#1,257). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dame is neighbouring look-alikes ("de", "dm", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \dam\. Frequency #1,255 among 5,307 “D” headwords. 16 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for dame, with forms such as "adme", "daem", and "ddame". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "de", "dm", "due", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is dame, spelled D-A-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme qui appartient à la noblesse.
  2. 2
    Femme à laquelle un chevalier consacrait ses soins et ses exploits.
  3. 3
    Titre donné aux religieuses des abbayes et ainsi qu’aux chanoinesses.
  4. 4
    Titre que l’on donnait par honneur aux femmes.
  5. 5
    Femme d’un rang social élevé.
  6. 6
    Terme courtois pour toute femme adulte.
  7. 7
    Femme, épouse.
  8. 8
    Toute femme.
  9. 9
    Pièce de nombreux jeux de pions ou de cartes.
  10. 10
    Pièce constituée par deux pions l’un sur l’autre pouvant se déplacer sur tout le damier.
  11. 11
    Reine, pièce du jeu d’échecs.
  12. 12
    Reine, élément d’un jeu de cartes.
  13. 13
    Pièce du jacquet, de trictrac, de backgammon.
  14. 14
    Allégorie d’une construction, d’une institution dont le substantif est au féminin.
  15. 15
    Outil de travaux publics, muni de deux anses, ou doté d’un manche, servant à tasser le sol ou à enfoncer des pavés.
  16. 16
    Ellipse de « dame de nage ». Désigne un tolet à fourche.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dame appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Haute et puissante dame.
  2. Porter une écharpe aux couleurs de sa dame.

Synonyms

reinedemoisellehiepilon

This word in other languages

lady(English)dama(Español)Dame(Deutsch)senhora(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • adme
  • daem
  • ddame
  • dmae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dame - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

adme2daem2ddame1dmae2
Edit distance from "dame"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dame"?
"dame" is spelled D-A-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is \dam\.
What does "dame" mean?
As a noun, "dame" means: Femme qui appartient à la noblesse.
What words are commonly confused with "dame"?
"dame" is commonly confused with "de", "dm", "due". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dame"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dame" is \dam\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dame" come from?
"dame" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dame", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

week#1,244bébé#1,285cité#1,224côte#1,288

What to do next

You've looked up "dame". Here's where to go from here.

  • "dame" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "de". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #1,255 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list