dans

\dɑ̃\

/\dɑ̃\/ prep

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

The verdict

“dans” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Préposition de lieu qui marque le rapport d’une personne ou d’une chose à ce qui la contient. Introduit un complément circonstanciel de lieu.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dans · dans · French

dans · rank #20 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #20
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH pour

Nearest frequency peer: pour (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « dans »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « dans » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

dans vs Ds
25% similar
dans vs DN
0% similar
dans vs des
50% similar

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

Key facts for dans
PropertyValue
Headworddans
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPreposition
IPA\dɑ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#20
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « dans »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.dansse 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 « pour » (#19), « je » (#21), « il » (#18). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dans » est au #20. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around dans (IPA \dɑ̃\), apreposition. Corpus frequency is #20 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for dans, with forms such as "adns", "danns", and "danss". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Ds", "DN", "des", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is dans, spelled D-A-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Préposition de lieu qui marque le rapport d’une personne ou d’une chose à ce qui la contient. Introduit un complément circonstanciel de lieu.
  2. 2
    Désigne la situation qu’une personne occupe, l’état où elle est, la disposition où elle se trouve, etc.
  3. 3
    Avec.
  4. 4
    Selon.
  5. 5
    Avec des mots qui indiquent une époque, une durée.
  6. 6
    Indique un moment postérieur au moment de l’énonciation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dans la forêt, il y a des arbres.
  2. Il y a du fer dans les lentilles.

Antonyms

horshors deil y a

This word in other languages

in(English)en(Español)in(Deutsch)em(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • adns
  • danns
  • danss
  • dasn
  • ddans
  • dnas

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dans - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

adns2danns1danss1dasn2ddans1dnas2
Edit distance from "dans"

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 "dans"?
"dans" is spelled D-A-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \dɑ̃\.
What does "dans" mean?
As a preposition, "dans" means: Préposition de lieu qui marque le rapport d’une personne ou d’une chose à ce qui la contient. Introduit un complément circonstanciel de lieu.
What words are commonly confused with "dans"?
"dans" is commonly confused with "Ds", "DN", "des". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dans"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dans" is \dɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dans" come from?
"dans" 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 "dans", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

pour#19plus#31avec#32vous#37

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

sont6 variantsfaire6 variantssans6 variantsavoir6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list