daguevsDammeConfusable pair

Which to use

“dague” and “Damme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,913
“dague” frequency rank
#36,346
“Damme” frequency rank
68259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dague Damme
Definition Espèce de long poignard. Variante du datif singulier de Damm.

Where the eye mixes dague and Damme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dague (CVCVV) and Damme (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
dague
5 ch
Damme

Visual trap between dague and Damme

A purely visual mix-up. dague (\daɡ\) and Damme (\ˈdamə\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dague is recorded at frequency rank #31,913, classified as anoun, pronounced \daɡ\. Damme is at rank #36,346, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdamə\.

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 68259, this pair ranks #59,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dague vs Damme

Shared letters: ade. Private to "dague": gu. Private to "Damme": m.

"dague" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Damme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dague ← adgue · dageu · daggue · dauge · ddague · dgaue
  • Damme ← admme · damem · ddamme · dmame

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dague" and "Damme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\daɡ\ versus \ˈdamə\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dague" or "Damme"?
"dague" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,913 in our French list, against #36,346 for "Damme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dague" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Damme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dague" and "Damme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Damme vs damned". 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 #59,873 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list